A three dimensional drive system for use with fillable emission phantoms for SPECT and PET imaging

Respiratory motion artefacts pose significant challenges for imaging of the lung and thorax. Dynamic phantoms have previously been applied to the study of respiratory motion, however, most moving platforms have been capable of movement in either one or two dimensions only. We describe a moving platform suitable for SPECT-CT and PET-CT imaging. The platform allows a fillable emission phantom to simulate rigid motion in three dimensions. Elliptical periodical motion of 1.5 cm in all three orthogonal planes was simulated using a series of cams moving a baseplate up and across a slope of 45°. The frequency of movement can be varied manually between 5 and 25 cycles per minute in a known calibrated and reproducible manner (This encompasses the range of physiological respiratory motion). Preliminary studies demonstrated that the phantom can be used to identify motion parameters and for the qualitative assessment of motion blurring in reconstructed images.