A PET module that comprises a pair of compact, high-resolution and large-area detectors based on silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) was developed and evaluated. The detector's effective area was 24 mm x 24 mm. LYSO crystals measuring 1.9 mm x 1.9 mm x 10 mm and charge division circuit were employed to obtain high spatial resolution with relatively concise Front-end electronics (FEE). Initial results showed the detector to be compatible with 1.5 T magnetic fields. The system's intrinsic FWHM spatial resolution is 1.50 mm. The average energy resolution is 18.5% and the coincidence timing resolution is 2.6 ns. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.