Real Time Minaturised in situ Blood Counting System for PET Preclinical Studies

近年来，更加个性化的医疗诊断和治疗的概念正在形成势头。这种方法可以提供更敏感和负担得起的定量检查和更有针对性的治疗，例如取决于个人的新陈代谢。目前正在进行大规模的多学科研究，以调查和建造适当的装置，使这一概念能够得到广泛应用。这项工作特别令人感兴趣的是正电子发射断层扫描方法，它允许监测内部器官的功能和新陈代谢，这是基于X射线的断层扫描方法无法获得的。在PET方法中，特殊的放射性核被大量插入体内，由于它们的化学结构兼容，它们可以跟随组织内的新陈代谢。放射性核会自发衰变，发出一种特征辐射，可以被检测到并用于持续监测器官的新陈代谢。为了从PET扫描中获得定量结果，监测沿着动脉中的血液流动的放射性核的数量是至关重要的。在这个项目中，我们建议开发一种基于为实验核物理开发的技术的专用探测设备。该装置旨在连续和灵敏地监测血液中放射性核的浓度，而不需要提取血液样本。这可以大大简化在PET检查期间监测放射性核浓度的过程，并使PET检查能够更个性化和更准确地诊断。

The concept of a more individualised medical diagnosis and treatment is gaining momentum in recent years. Such an approach can offer a more sensitive and affordable quantitative examination and a more targeted treatment depending, for example, on the individual's metabolism. Large scale multidisciplinary research is currently taking place to investigate and construct appropriate devices that will enable the widespread application of this concept. Of particular interest to this work is the Positron Emission Tomography method, which allows to monitor the function and metabolism of the internal organs, something that cannot be obtained with an X-ray based tomography method. In the PET method special radioactive nuclei are inserted in large numbers into the body and due to their compatible chemical structure they can follow the metabolism inside the tissues. The radioactive nuclei spontaneously decay emitting a characteristic radiation, which can be detected and used to monitor continiously the metabolism of the organs. To obtain a quantitative results from a PET scan it is crucial to monitor the amount of radioactive nuclei that flow following the blood in the arteries. In this project we propose the development of a dedicated detection device based on technology developed for experimental nuclear physics. The proposed device aims at monitoring the concentration of radioactive nuclei in the blood in a continuous and sensitive way without requiring the extraction of blood samples. This can greatly simplify the process of monitoring the concentration of radioactive nuclei during a PET examination and enable a more personalised and precise diagnosis from a PET examination.