Manish Das, S. Sharma, E. Beyene, Aleksander Bilewicz, J. Choiński, N. Chug, C. Curceanu, E. Czerwiński, Kavya Valsan Eliyan, Jakub Hajduga, Sharareh Jalali, K. Kacprzak, T. Kaplanoglu, Ł. Kapłon, Kamila Kasperska, A. Khreptak, G. Korcyl, T. Kozik, Karol Kubat, Deepak Kumar, Anoop Kunimmal Venadan, Edward Lisowski, Filip Lisowski, J. Mędrala-Sowa, Simbarashe Moyo, W. Mryka, Szymon Niedźwiecki, Piyush Pandey, S. Parzych, Alessio Porcelli, B. Rachwał, E. Pérez del Río, Martin Rädler, Axel Rominger, Kuangyu Shi, M. Skurzok, A. Stolarz, T. Szumlak, P. Tanty, K. Tayefi Ardebili, Satyam Tiwari, Rafał Walczak, Ewa Stępień, P. Moskal
Positronium Lifetime Imaging (PLI), an emerging extension of conventional positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, offers a novel window for probing the submolecular properties of biological tissues by imaging the mean lifetime of the positronium atom. Currently, the method is under rapid development in terms of reconstruction and detection systems. Recently, the first in vivo PLI of the human brain was performed using the J-PET scanner utilizing the 68Ga isotope. However, this isotope has limitations due to its comparatively low prompt gamma yields, which is crucial for positronium lifetime measurement. Among alternative radionuclides, 44Sc stands out as a promising isotope for PLI, characterized by a clinically suitable half-life (4.04 hours) emitting 1157 keV prompt gamma in 100% cases after the emission of the positron. This study reports the first experimental demonstration of PLI with 44Sc, carried out on a NEMA-Image Quality (IQ) phantom using the Modular J-PET tomograph–the first plastic scintillators-based PET scanner.