Enhancement of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging

增强正电子发射断层扫描 (PET) 成像

• 批准号: 36672-2011
• 负责人: Thompson, Christopher
• 金额: $ 2.04万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=568762
• 关键词: Enhancement; positron; emission; tomography; PET

My research deals with medical instruments which make images of "function" rather than "anatomy". The weather map in the morning paper is an example of a "functional image" of Canada. It tells you that there is a storm expected in Ottawa later today, but not the best highway you would use to get from Montreal to Ottawa. A road map shows anatomy, an weather map shows function. Functional images of living creatures have less detail than anatomical images. If the brain of a rat (which was sacrificed while its whiskers were being stroked, and had previously been injected with radioactive glucose), is sliced up we can put the slices on a film and the image shows very fine details of which parts of the brain were active. But in an awake animal or for human imaging such detail is presently not possible since the imaging must be done by external detectors, not by direct contact. Positron emission tomography, or PET, gives clinicians and researchers the best quality functional images of patients and animals which can be presently obtained. The goal of my research is to improve both the spatial and temporal resolution of PET imaging. Just as you would like to know from a weather map if the thunder storm was going to occur over the base-ball stadium or on the other side of town(spatial resolution) and either during or after the ball game (temporal resolution), my research is aimed at providing significant improvements in functional medical imaging. PET, recently combined with the anatomical imaging called CT scanning, shows the best ability to diagnose and stage many cancers. However, it is also the most expensive technique, and PET scans take much longer to perform. One of the projects I want to continue, will make PET scans both faster and more accurate without adding cost. This will allow more patients to be scanned per day, reducing wait-times and cost to the health care system. Another will allow PET to use novel silicon light detectors in an efficient and cost effective way instead of the older photomultiplier tubes (of which there is now only one manufacturer left) presently used.

我的研究涉及制作“功能”而不是“解剖”图像的医疗器械。晨报上的天气图是加拿大“功能图像”的一个例子。它告诉您预计今天晚些时候渥太华将有暴风雨，但这不是从蒙特利尔到渥太华的最佳高速公路。路线图显示解剖结构，天气图显示功能。 生物的功能图像的细节少于解剖图像。如果将老鼠的大脑（在抚摸其胡须时处死，并且之前注射了放射性葡萄糖）切成薄片，我们可以将切片放在胶片上，图像会显示大脑哪些部分处于活动状态的非常精细的细节。但在清醒的动物或人类成像中，目前不可能获得这样的细节，因为成像必须通过外部探测器而不是直接接触来完成。 正电子发射断层扫描 (PET) 为临床医生和研究人员提供了目前可获得的患者和动物的最佳质量功能图像。我的研究目标是提高 PET 成像的空间和时间分辨率。正如您想从天气地图上了解雷暴是否会发生在棒球场上空或城镇的另一边（空间分辨率）以及球赛期间或之后（时间分辨率）一样，我的研究旨在显着改进功能医学成像。 PET 最近与称为 CT 扫描的解剖成像相结合，显示出诊断和分期许多癌症的最佳能力。然而，它也是最昂贵的技术，而且 PET 扫描的执行时间要长得多。我想继续的项目之一是在不增加成本的情况下使 PET 扫描更快、更准确。这将使每天有更多的患者接受扫描，从而减少等待时间和医疗保健系统的成本。另一项将允许 PET 以高效且具有成本效益的方式使用新型硅光探测器，而不是目前使用的老式光电倍增管（目前只剩下一家制造商）。