BREAST CANCER SPECIFIC PET INSTRUMENTATION

描述(改编自申请者摘要)：本报告的总体目标 该项目将继续开发其几何形状为 最适合检测乳腺癌或腋窝淋巴结受累。这些 X光后乳房X光检查工具将确定可疑结构 在乳房X光检查中观察到与乳房相关的新陈代谢增加 癌症，并能对腋窝进行成像以确定腋窝结节的范围 参与其中。建议的工具有可能提供一种 经济高效、非侵入性的活检替代方案，而且准确 腋窝淋巴结受累的信息显著高于 比现有的成像技术更灵敏。建议的技术依赖于 关于FDG是乳腺癌的极佳示踪剂的事实 特异性和选择性，如用常规PET成像所测量的。这个 拟议的仪器由近距离放置的PET探测器模块组成 接近乳房(类似于乳房X光照相机)或腋下 (类似于小直径的PET环)。这些几何形状改进了 敏感度和空间分辨率与 传统的PET摄像机(灵敏度提高了4-30倍 乳房和腋窝的系数为1-10)，因此允许快速 结构的癌病变和腋窝受累的识别 用小剂量(&lt；1mci)的FDG注射到5毫米大小。第一 本项目基础技术开发的资金期 高性能PET探测器模块由大量的小型 LSO闪烁体晶体，每个晶体的一端耦合到光电倍增管 (其提供定时脉冲和能量辨别)和另一方面 结束到单个硅光电二极管(它识别晶体 并测量晶体内相互作用的深度)。这个 目前的项目重点是建设两台PET摄像机，开发 这些独特的摄像机几何形状的重建算法， 用模体表征成像特性，并初步 评价患者的影像特征。较小的探测器体积 与传统的PET相比，相机成本降低了十分之一 摄影机。当与所需的较低剂量的放射药物结合时， 这一发展可以降低患者检查的成本 意义重大。这些相机是专门为乳腺癌设计的， 但开发的探测器模块也可以整合到HIGH 具有传统几何结构的分辨率PET摄像机。这些设计，当 完成后，将提供给私营行业并入临床 乐器。

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.