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 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 that is operable to create images in real time notwithstanding the significant amounts of data generated by the CT and PET radiating devices.