ANNULAR WHOLE BODY PET SCINTILLATION CAMERA

本提案设想的研究目的是证明闪烁照相机设计中的至少三个新概念，最终导致高性能全身PET照相机的生产，这将比目前使用的任何正电子湮没辐射成像系统更具成本效益。创新包括开发能够通过环形NaI（Tl）闪烁晶体探测器进行基本连续采样的方法，以及用于确定探测器中入射伽马射线相互作用的径向深度的方法。 通过将这两项进展纳入环形PET相机的设计中，我们预计将获得比目前使用NaI（Tl）闪烁器和空间分辨率匹配最先进PET系统的灵敏度高92%的灵敏度。将在第二阶段开发的PET相机将主要用于使用氟-18标记的氟脱氧葡萄糖（FDG）进行全身癌症检测和成像，该应用在采用PET系统时显示出临床有效性和成本效益。 据估计，通过本发明的方法构造的PET相机的市场价格将比目前的双头符合检测（CD）相机的市场价格高出约20%，而目前的双头符合检测（CD）相机的市场价格约为目前PET相机的一半，目前的双头符合检测（CD）相机还没有被证明是成本有效的，主要是因为它们的灵敏度较差。拟议的商业应用：这项研究有望使可靠的环形PET相机具有氟-18氟脱氧葡萄糖（FDG）成像特性，其价格约为一半，与更昂贵的同行一样好。 这种有利的成本/效益比应该会导致市场的强烈接受。

The purpose of the research envisioned by this proposal is to prove at least three new concepts in scintillation camera design leading ultimately to the production of high performance whole-body PET cameras which will be more cost effective than any of the positron annihilation radiation imaging systems currently in use. Innovations comprise the development of methods to enable essentially continuous sampling by annular NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal detectors and methods for determining the radial depth of interaction of incident gamma rays in the detector. By incorporating both advances into the design of annular PET cameras we expect to obtain sensitivities 92% higher than are currently possible using NaI(Tl) scintillators and spatial resolution matching state of the art PET systems. The PET cameras, to be developed during Phase II, will be designed primarily for whole-body cancer detection and imaging using Fluorine-18 labeled Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), an application shown to be clinically efficacious and cost effective when employing PET systems. It is estimated that the market price of the PET cameras constructed by the methods of this proposal will be about 20 percent higher than that of the of current dual-headed coincidence detection (CD) cameras, which have not been shown to be cost effective primarily because of their poorer sensitivity, and about half the price of current PET cameras. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This research is expected to make available dependable annular PET cameras having Fluorine-18 fluordeoxyglucose (FDG) imaging characteristics as good as their more expensive counterparts at about half the price. This favorable cost/benefit ratio should result in a strong market acceptance.