Preclinical cardiac imaging package for clinical SPECT systems

描述（申请人提供）：宾夕法尼亚大学（Penn）和布里格姆妇女医院（BWH）的生物工程研究伙伴关系提案的长期目标是开发一种用于临床前心脏成像的优化准直系统，该系统提供比市售临床前系统更高的性能，成本仅为独立的商业系统~我们估计这一成本约为9.7万美元（约15%）。 我们将为临床三头扫描仪开发一个完整的临床前转换包，用户可能已经拥有，也可以从我们的公司合作伙伴那里以每年约4万美元的价格租用，包括维护成本。这一成本低于市售独立临床前扫描仪的单独维护成本，甚至不考虑机器的购买或租赁价格。拟议的准直管将制造钨聚合物使用快速成型 和铸造技术~这个管的初始版本将包含大量的（~150-200）个非常高密度的铂铱合金针孔衬垫，针对临床前心脏成像进行了优化，将包括两个部分：（i）提供0.5 mm或更好的重建分辨率和在视场（FOV）上约0.5%的灵敏度的高分辨率切片适用于心脏成像，以及（ii）具有较大FOV但分辨率更适中的侦察成像部分。可以通过自动轴向平移管来快速改变截面。这种组合不仅将提供用于心脏的准确定位的定位图像，而且还将获取关于心脏周围的活动分布的信息，否则如果单独使用高分辨率切片，该信息将被截断。 该管的未来版本可能包含额外的部分，以允许多级成像。该建议的关键概念之一是使用方形孔径插入物来提供来自多个针孔的投影的有效平铺，以及对于相同分辨率比圆形孔径更高的灵敏度。 由于快速成型模具将用于管制造，这些插入件将全部定位和定向以产生最佳成像性能。 定制的Phantom-专门为临床前心脏成像任务设计，并使用快速原型技术制造-将用于Penn和BWH的初始性能评估，以及与其他临床前成像系统的比较。新系统在推进心血管科学方面的实用性及其全方位的功能，将通过与我们的多学科研究进行彻底的论证。 生物医学合作者-这些项目将为主要研究者提供必要的反馈，以优化采集协议，同时还解决心血管科学中重要和及时的主题，与（i）正常心肌中使用sestamibi和一种新型示踪剂的灌注~（ii）缺血心肌中使用两种示踪剂的灌注~（iii）~脂肪酸代谢~（iv）的成像有关化疗诱导的心脏毒性~（v）单核细胞归巢动脉粥样硬化斑块~和（vi）动脉粥样硬化中的纳米颗粒和钙化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of this Bioengineering Research Partnership proposal from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is to develop an optimized collimation system for preclinical cardiac imaging that offers higher performance than that of commercially available preclinical systems at a cost that is a small fraction of the price of stand-alone commercial systems~ we estimate this cost at about $97k (~15%). We will develop a complete preclinical conversion package for clinical triple-head scanners that users may already have or that can be leased from our corporate partner for about $40k/year, including the cost of maintenance. This cost is less than the maintenance cost alone for commercially available stand-alone preclinical scanners, without even considering the purchase or lease price of the machines. The proposed collimator tube will be fabricated from tungsten-polymer using rapid-prototyping and casting techniques~ the initial version of this tube will contain a large number (~150-200) of very high-density platinum- iridium alloy pinhole inserts optimized for preclinical cardiac imaging and will consist of two sections: (i) a high- resolution section providing reconstructed resolution of 0.5 mm or better and a sensitivity of about 0.5% over a field of view (FOV) appropriate for cardiac imaging, and (ii) a scout-imaging section with a larger FOV, but more modest resolution. The sections can be rapidly changed by robotically translating the tube axially. This combination will not only provide a scout image for accurate positioning of the heart, but will also acquire information about the activity distribution surrounding the heart tha would otherwise be truncated if using the high-resolution section alone. Future versions of the tube may contain additional sections to allow multi-stage imaging. One of the key concepts of this proposal is the use of square-aperture inserts to provide efficient tiling of projections fro multiple pinholes, as well as higher sensitivity than that of circular apertures for the same resolution. Because rapid-prototyping molds will be used for tube fabrication, these inserts will all be positioned and oriented to yield optimal imaging performance. Customized phantoms -- designed specifically for preclinical cardiac imaging tasks and also fabricated using rapid-prototyping techniques -- will be used for initial performance evaluations at both Penn and BWH, as well as for comparisons with other preclinical imaging systems. The new systems' utility for advancing cardiovascular science, as well as their full range of functionalit, will then be thoroughly demonstrated through multidisciplinary research studies with our biomedical collaborators~ these projects will provide essential feedback to the principal investigators for optimizing acquisition protocols, while also addressing important and timely topics in cardiovascular science, related to imaging of (i) perfusion with both sestamibi and a novel tracer in normal myocardium~ (ii) perfusion with both tracers in ischemic myocardium~ (iii)~ fatty-acid metabolism~ (iv) chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity~ (v) monocyte homing to atheroplaques~ and (vi) nanoparticles and calcifications in atherosclerosis.