BREAST CANCER SPECIFIC PET INSTRUMENTATION

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：本发明的总体目标是： 该项目是继续PET相机的发展，其几何形状是 优化用于检测乳腺癌或腋窝淋巴结受累。 这些 X光检查后的乳房X光检查工具将确定可疑结构是否 在乳房X光片中观察到的与乳房相关的代谢增加 癌症，并可以成像腋窝，以确定腋窝淋巴结的范围 参与。 建议的仪器有可能提供一个 成本效益，非侵入性替代活检以及准确的 关于腋窝淋巴结受累的信息， 比现有的成像技术更灵敏。 该技术依赖于 事实上，FDG是一种极好的乳腺癌示踪剂， 特异性和选择性，如用常规PET成像测量的。 的 建议的仪器包括PET探测器模块， 靠近乳房（类似于乳房X线摄影装置）或腋窝 （类似于小直径PET环）。 这些几何形状改善了 灵敏度和空间分辨率显着相比， 传统的PET照相机（灵敏度增加是4-30倍， 乳房和1-10倍的腋窝），因此允许快速 癌性病变和腋窝受累结构的识别 小至5 mm大小，注射小剂量（<1 mCi）FDG。 第一 本项目的资助期为开发基础技术， 高性能PET探测器模块由大量小型 LSO闪烁体晶体，每个晶体的一端与光电倍增管耦合 （其提供定时脉冲和能量鉴别），另一方面 端到单个硅光电二极管（其识别晶体 相互作用并测量晶体内相互作用的深度）。 的 本项目的重点是建设两个PET相机，开发 用于这些独特的照相机几何形状的重建算法， 用体模表征成像特性，并初步 评价患者的成像特性。 探测器体积小 与传统PET相比， 相机 当与所需的较低量的放射性药物结合时， 这一发展可以降低患者检查的成本 显著 这些相机是专门为乳腺癌设计的， 但是所开发的探测器模块也可以被并入高分辨率的系统中， 分辨率PET相机与传统的几何结构。 这些设计，当 完成后，将提供给私营企业纳入临床 仪器

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): The overall aim of this project is to continue development of PET cameras whose geometry is optimized for detecting breast cancer or axillary node involvement. These post-x-ray mammography tools would determine whether suspicious structures observed in mammograms have the increased metabolism associated with breast cancers, and can image the axilla to determine the extent of axillary node involvement. The instrumentation proposed has the potential to provide a cost effective, non-invasive alternative to biopsy as well as accurate information on axillary node involvement with significantly higher sensitivity than existing imaging techniques. The proposed technique relies on the fact that FDG is an excellent tracer for breast cancer with >90% specificity and selectivity, as measured with conventional PET imaging. The proposed instruments consist of PET detector modules placed in close proximity to the breast (similar to a mammography unit) or the axilla (similar to a small diameter PET ring). These geometries improve the sensitivity and the spatial resolution significantly compared to a conventional PET camera (the sensitivity increase is a factor of 4-30 for the breast and a factor of 1-10 for the axilla), and so allow rapid identification of cancerous lesions and axillary involvement for structures down to 5 mm in size with a small (<1 mCi) injected dose of FDG. The first funding period of this project on development of the base technology for a high performance PET detector module consisting of a large number of small LSO scintillator crystals, each coupled on one end to a photomultiplier tube (which provides a timing pulse and energy discrimination) and on the other end to an individual silicon photodiode (which identifies the crystal of interaction and measures the depth of interaction within the crystal). The present project focuses on construction of two PET cameras, development of reconstruction algorithms for these unique camera geometries, characterization of the imaging properties with phantoms, and preliminary evaluation of the imaging properties in patients. The small detector volume reduces the camera cost by a factor of ten compared to a conventional PET camera. When combined with the lower amount of radio-pharmaceutical needed, this development could reduce the cost of a patient examination significantly. These cameras are designed specifically for breast cancer, but the detector module developed could also be incorporated into high resolution PET cameras with conventional geometries. These designs, when complete, will be offered to private industry to incorporate into a clinical instrument.