A body scanning system includes a CT transmitter and a PET configured to radiate along a significant portion of the body and a plurality of sensors (202, 204) configured to detect photons along the same portion of the body. In order to facilitate the efficient collection of photons and to process the data on a real time basis, the body scanning system includes a new data processing pipeline that includes a sequentially implemented parallel processor (212) that is operable to create images in real time not withstanding the significant amounts of data generated by the CT and PET radiating devices.
