A New High Performance Detector for Small Animal SPECT

描述（由申请人提供）：在各种功能成像技术中，SPECT在小动物疾病模型研究以及患者护理中发挥着重要作用。许多SPECT标记的成像探针具有高度特异性的分布，背景非常少，被用于测量小动物中广泛的重要生物学参数，包括底物代谢，血流，缺氧，蛋白质合成和受体特性。近年来，通过体内转基因表达成像方法的发展，这种重要方式的实用性得到了显着增强。此外，SPECT能够双同位素成像，用于将两个生物过程与单个成像研究相关联。最近对小动物SPECT的需求也受到制药行业的推动，其中生物过程的体内定量以测量药剂的作用机制及其在作用部位的浓度是必要的。这些应用中的每一个都需要出色的空间分辨率，这不仅是因为要成像的细节尺度很小，而且还因为要求苛刻的检测和估计任务。不幸的是，现有的SPECT仪器不提供所需的性能，所以高分辨率探测器的发展是必不可少的未来SPECT系统的改进。为了解决这些问题，我们建议开发一种新的探测器的基础上耦合到一个非常高的空间分辨率读出的闪烁体的独特设计。具体地，闪烁体设计和制造将最小化由于闪烁体内的相互作用深度效应而引起的视差误差引起的分辨率损失，同时保持入射辐射的检测的非常高的效率。闪烁体和读出器的这种组合在耦合到定制设计的准直器时将形成SPECT检测器模块，其可以以成本有效的方式实现极精细的空间分辨率和高灵敏度。探测器模块成功开发后，将集中精力开发一个完整的小动物SPECT系统作为原型产品。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Among the various functional imaging techniques, SPECT maintains an important role in the study of disease models in small animals as well as in patient care. Many SPECT-labeled imaging probes that have highly specific distributions with very little background are being used to measure a wide range of biological parameters of importance in small animals including substrate metabolism, blood flow, hypoxia, protein synthesis and receptor characteristics. The utility of this important modality has been significantly enhanced in recent years by the development of methods to image transgene expression in vivo. Furthermore, SPECT is capable of dual-isotope imaging for correlating two biological processes with a single imaging study. Recent demand for small animal SPECT has also been driven by the pharmaceutical industry where in vivo quantification of biological processes to measure an agent's mechanism of action and its concentration at the site of action is necessary. Each of these applications requires excellent spatial resolution, not only because of the small scale of the details to be imaged but also for the demanding detection and estimation tasks. Unfortunately, existing SPECT instrumentation does not provide the required performance, so the development of a high-resolution detector is essential for the improvement of future SPECT systems. To address these issues, we propose to develop a novel detector based on a unique design of a scintillator coupled to a very high spatial resolution readout. Specifically, the scintillator design and fabrication will minimize the loss of resolution arising from parallax errors due to depth-of-interaction effects within the scintillator, while maintaining very high efficiency for the detection of incident radiation. This combination of scintillator and readout, when coupled to a custom designed collimator, will form a SPECT detector module that can achieve extremely fine spatial resolution and high sensitivity in a cost-effective manner. The effort subsequent to the successful development of the detector module will focus on the development of a complete small-animal SPECT system as a prototype product.