Low Cost Lu-based Scintillator Crystals for PET Scanners

用于 PET 扫描仪的低成本 Lu 基闪烁体晶体

• 批准号: 6725560
• 负责人: Wesley S. Hackenberger
• 金额: $ 23.03万
• 依托单位: TRS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-30 至 2005-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6725560
• 关键词: bioimaging /biomedical imaging; biomedical equipment development; ceramics; cerium; chemical synthesis; crystallization; physical state; positron emission tomography; radiopharmacology; rare earth element; scintillation cameras

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is becoming an increasingly important imaging modality particularly for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Unfortunately, PET scanners are extremely expensive instruments; so much so, that they tend to be limited to large facilities and are almost nonexistent in rural communities or developing nations. A major cost driver for PET scanners is the scintillator crystals used to detect gamma rays emitted by the radiopharmaceuticals. Recent development of lutetium (Lu) based oxide crystals for a new generation of fast, high-resolution PET systems has made the situation even worse. These crystals are very expensive to grow and could constitute as much as 30% of the cost of a PET scanner. The objective of the current proposal is to develop low cost crystal growth of Lu-based scintillators using solid state conversion of ceramic into single crystals. Ceramics are produced in high volume resulting in low production costs per cc of yielded material. However, crystal growth is a much lower volume process (especially for oxides) with high production costs. The proposed innovation uses low cost ceramic processing methods, but then in the last step, takes advantage of unique thermodynamic processes to convert the ceramic to a single crystal. Due to the much higher volume of material produced, the processing costs of solid state growth are expected to yield Lu-based scintillators at a 50% or even 70% lower cost than conventional melt growth.

描述(由申请人提供)： 正电子发射断层扫描(PET)正成为一种越来越重要的成像手段，特别是在癌症诊断和治疗监测方面。不幸的是，PET扫描仪是极其昂贵的仪器；以至于它们往往局限于大型设施，在农村社区或发展中国家几乎不存在。PET扫描仪的一个主要成本驱动因素是用于检测放射性药物发射的伽马射线的闪烁体晶体。用于新一代快速、高分辨率PET系统的Lu(Lu)基氧化物晶体的最新发展使情况变得更糟。这些晶体的生长成本非常高，可能占PET扫描仪成本的30%。目前的提议的目标是开发低成本的鲁基闪烁体晶体生长，利用陶瓷到单晶的固态转换。陶瓷是大批量生产的，因此每生产一毫升材料的生产成本较低。然而，晶体生长是一个体积小得多的过程(特别是氧化物)，生产成本很高。拟议的创新使用低成本的陶瓷加工方法，但在最后一步，利用独特的热力学过程将陶瓷转化为单晶。由于材料的生产量大得多，固态生长的加工成本有望以比传统熔体生长低50%甚至70%的成本生产Lu基闪烁体。