As part of our continued commitment to driving discovery through investment in technology and infrastructure, Emory has purchased a PET/MR system from GE Healthcare.

“This PET/MR system will significantly increase research capabilities for advanced multi-modality imaging in the Emory community, and it represents our ongoing commitment to providing the Atlanta area with state-of-the-art imaging capabilities,” said John Oshinski, Director of the Center for System Imaging Core (CSIC), one of the Emory Integrated Core Facilities. The scanner will be the first PET/MR system in Georgia and represents an exciting example of the cooperative sharing of expertise and equipment between Emory’s research and clinical missions.

The CSIC will manage use of the instrument. It was purchased with funds from an NIH S10 large instrumentation grant awarded to Hui Mao, Ph.D. in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, along with supplemental funding from Emory Healthcare. The scanner is in a translational research area within the Emory Clinic (building C - Winship). Sixty percent of its use will be allocated to research and forty percent to clinical studies. The magnet has been delivered, and the system will go live on June 1, 2021.

The GE SIGNA PET/MR 3.0T 26 with Quantworks features a simultaneous time of flight (TOF) PET imaging with whole body 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a 60 cm bore. The PET system timing resolution is <400 psec with a coincidence window of 4.57 ns. Resolution is 3.7-4.2mm in plane and 4.8-7.1mm in the axial direction. The MR system is a 3.0 Tesla GE SIGNA 750W with gradients capable of a Peak Amplitude 44 mT/m and a Peak Slew Rate 200 T/m/s. Main field homogeneity is <0.500 ppm over 40 cm FOV. The system comes equipped with several coils including a spine coil, body array coils, and Transmit/Receive head coils. The software suite includes advanced neuro, body, oncology and orthopedic, cardiovascular, and pediatric packages and includes multi-nuclear spectroscopy.