Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute selects Zecotek photodiodes for PET medical imaging

January 15, 2008, Vancouver, BC, Canada--Zecotek Photonics announced that the Swiss-based Paul Scherrer Institute selected Zecotek's proprietary micro-pixel avalanche photodiodes (MAPDs) for trials in its next-generation positron emission tomography (PET) medical imaging program.

The Paul Scherrer Institute PET program is focused on advancing improvements in sensitivity, spatial resolution, and image quality in PET scanners, based on the understanding that advances in PET are driven largely by progress in instrumentation, in particular the performance of scintillation materials, photodetectors and read-out electronics. Higher resolution PET scanners will provide more detailed diagnoses, result in improved patient outcomes, and broaden PET applications in brain function analysis and diagnosis.

A. F. Zerrouk, chairman, president, and CEO of Zecotek said, "The MAPD photo detector and the LFS scintillation material form the core elements of a new class of detector array used in medical imaging. Our detector array offers improved performance at a lower cost and, because our MAPDs are not affected by magnetic fields, offers the potential break-through of an integrated PET-MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanning device."

Zecotek's MAPD solid-state photodetectors have been designed in several configurations to offer significant performance and cost advantages over the current photomultiplier vacuum tubes (PMT) and existing solid-state photodetectors.

For more information, visit www.zecotek.com.