Quantum Entanglement Tomography for enhanced medical imaging

该项目将使一种利用量子纠缠的正电子成像的新概念实现商业化-量子纠缠层析成像(QET)。这项工作将为爱丁堡大学(UoE)和Kromek之间的新合作提供资金，Kromek是英国领先的颗粒探测器产品制造商之一。新的合作有可能使新的高质量和低成本的PET成像探测器成为可能。在PET成像中，患者被注射含有放射性原子的糖，通常是氟原子。当这个原子衰变时，会发出两个光子，它们背靠背地从相反的方向出来。通过探测这些双光子事件中的许多事件，可以重建源的图像。PET成像被用于许多重要的临床诊断，如识别癌症组织和诊断阿尔茨海默病。我们(UOE)已经开发并申请了一项新技术(QET)的专利，该技术将利用量子信息改善PET图像的清晰度和对比度。采用这种方法将会带来显著的成本效益。更好的成像将导致更适当的治疗，从而减少无效的手术干预，并改善肿瘤学家应用的日益昂贵的化疗的治疗选择。除了肿瘤学的应用外，PET成像在神经退行性疾病中的应用也越来越多，例如阿尔茨海默病。该项目的这一技术发展将使人们能够看到更小、更弱的临床特征，从而能够更早、更可靠地诊断疾病和疾病进展。新的基于量子信息的医学成像方法将与Kromek开发的基于CZT的探测器系统一起商业化。这些最先进的光子探测器具有接近理想的探测特性，可以准确地确定和利用这些量子信息。

This project will enable the commercialisation of a new concept for positron imaging which utilises quantum entanglement - Quantum Entanglement Tomography (QET). The work will fund a new collaboration between the University of Edinburgh (UoE) and Kromek, one of the leading UK based manufacturers of particle detector products. The new collaboration has the potential to enable new high-quality and low-cost PET imaging detectors. In PET imaging a patient is injected with sugar containing a radioactive atom, usually a flourine atom. When this atom decays 2 photons are emitted which come out in opposite directions back-to-back. By detecting many of these 2 photon events an image of the source can be reconstucted. PET imaging is used for many important clinical diagnoses such as identifying cancerous tissue and diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. We (UoE) have developed and patented a new technique (QET) which will improve upon the sharpness and contrast of the PET image using quantum information. There will be significant cost benefits in adopting this approach. Better imaging will lead to more appropriate treatment, resulting in fewer futile surgical interventions and improved therapy choices for the increasingly expensive chemotherapies applied by oncologists. Apart from oncology applications, there is an increasing use of PET imaging in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. This technical developments in this project would allow smaller and weaker clinical features to be seen, permitting earlier and more reliable diagnosis of disease and disease progression.The new quantum-information based medical imaging method will be commercialised with the CZT based detector systems developed by Kromek. These state-of-the-art photon detectors have close to ideal detection characteristics to accurately determine and exploit this quantum information.