A Fast, High Luminosity Scintillator for PET

描述(由申请人提供)： 正电子发射断层扫描(PET)是一种利用一系列正电子发射示踪剂来提供反映与肿瘤生物学相关的不同参数的图像的核成像方式。肿瘤细胞通常在许多方面与正常细胞不同，包括葡萄糖利用率、增殖和蛋白质合成。PET示踪剂，如葡萄糖和胸苷类似物，以及氨基酸，通常在肿瘤细胞中显示高摄取率。事实上，18F脱氧葡萄糖(FDG)全身PET成像现在是一种成熟的诊断程序，用于许多不同类型癌症患者的分期和辅助治疗选择。PET技术的最新发展导致了更专业的PET系统，特别是在乳房成像和乳腺癌应用方面。其动机是以比传统全身PET扫描仪更低的成本获得更好的性能。 显然，正电子发射计算机断层扫描技术在现代癌症研究和临床诊断中发挥着越来越显著的作用。然而，迫切需要改进PET仪器，以充分发挥这种强大的成像方式的潜力。这项拟议工作的目标是研究一种新的、有希望用于PET成像的闪烁体的晶体。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a nuclear imaging modality that makes use of a range of positron-emitting tracers to provide images that reflect different parameters relevant to tumor biology. Tumor cells generally differ from normal cells in many respects, including rates of glucose utilization, proliferation and protein synthesis. PET tracers such as glucose and thymidine analogs, and amino acids, generally show high uptake in tumor cells. Indeed, whole-body PET imaging with 18Ffluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is now a well established diagnostic procedure that is used for staging and assisting in management choices of patients with many different types of cancers. Recent developments in PET technology are leading towards more specialized PET systems, particularly for breast imaging and applications in breast cancer. The motivation is to obtain better performance at a lower cost than with conventional whole-body PET scanners. It is clear that PET technology is playing a prominent and an increasingly visible role in modem cancer research and clinical diagnosis. However, there is urgent need for improvement in PET instrumentation in order to exploit the full potential of this powerful imaging modality. The goal of the proposed effort is to investigate crystals of a new promising scintillator for PET imaging.