Quantitative Cardiac PET/CT Imaging

描述（由申请人提供）：正电子发射断层扫描（PET）与计算机断层扫描（CT）在集成PET/CT扫描仪中结合使用，为冠状动脉疾病的诊断提供了一种单次研究、无创技术。PET/CT心脏扫描可提供补充性功能和解剖评估：PET可定量心肌灌注和代谢，从而深入了解小血管疾病和组织活力;而造影剂增强CT血管造影可提供冠状动脉解剖和动脉粥样硬化负荷的信息。PET提供了真正定量测量的潜力，但这种定量受到（1）未对准的基于CT的衰减校正（CTAC）因子和（2）PET成像的有限灵敏度的混淆。呼吸运动、心脏运动和/或患者移动导致CTAC图像和PET图像之间的未对准。为了减少这种不对准，Aim 1开发并评估了针对心脏PET成像中的衰减校正量身定制的CT采集协议，以提高定性和定量准确性。PET成像的有限灵敏度导致噪声动态研究，并且需要在多个呼吸和心动周期内进行图像采集。目的2研究在心脏PET成像中使用针对心肌血流估计的重建方法来减少这些退化的方法。该研究计划补充了一个全面的培训计划，以促进Alessio博士作为华盛顿大学放射学系生物成像研究员和初级教员的发展。Alessio博士以前的研究主要集中在统计图像处理和断层重建。拟议的培训计划包括指导，生物医学课程和学术活动，将使他能够过渡到生物医学角色，并解决心脏成像中紧迫的临床问题。该提案的导师代表了数十年的经验- James考德威尔和James Bassingthwaighte负责心血管功能和建模，托马斯Lewellen和Paul Kinahan负责核医学物理、图像生成和临床方案优化。华盛顿大学拥有国际公认的心血管生物工程，核心脏病学和诊断物理学课程，是独立研究职业发展的理想环境，将最先进的成像技术与冠状动脉疾病评估的临床需求相结合。这一发展将有助于解决被广泛认为是心脏PET/CT成像中最重要的挑战。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Positron emission tomography (PET) combined with computed tomography (CT) in an integrated PET/CT scanner offers a single-study, noninvasive technique for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. PET/CT cardiac scans can provide complementary functional and anatomic assessments: PET can quantitate myocardial perfusion and metabolism offering insight into small vessel disease and tissue viability; while contrast enhanced CT angiography provides information on coronary anatomy and atherosclerotic burden. PET offers the potential for truly quantitative measurements, but this quantitation is confounded by (1) misaligned CT-based attenuation correction (CTAC) factors and (2) the limited sensitivity of PET imaging. Respiratory motion, cardiac motion, and/or patient movement cause misalignment between the CTAC image and the PET image. To reduce this misalignment, Aim 1 develops and evaluates CT acquisition protocols tailored for attenuation correction in cardiac PET imaging to improve qualitative and quantitative accuracy. The limited sensitivity of PET imaging results in noisy dynamic studies and requires image acquisitions over multiple respiratory and cardiac cycles. Aim 2 investigates methods to reduce these degradations with reconstruction methods tailored for myocardial blood flow estimation in cardiac PET imaging. This research plan complements a comprehensive training plan to facilitate Dr. Alessio's development as a bioimaging researcher and junior faculty member in the Department of Radiology at the University of Washington. Dr. Alessio's previous research has focused on statistical image processing and tomographic reconstruction. The proposed training plan including mentoring, biomedical coursework, and scholarly activities will allow him to transition into a biomedical role and solve pressing clinical problems in cardiac imaging. The mentors for this proposal represent several decades of experience - James Caldwell and James Bassingthwaighte for cardiovascular function and modeling and Thomas Lewellen and Paul Kinahan for nuclear medicine physics, image generation, and clinical protocol optimization. The University of Washington, with its internationally recognized programs in cardiovascular bioengineering, nuclear cardiology, and diagnostic physics, is an ideal environment for the development of an independent research career combining state of the art imaging techniques with clinical needs for the assessment of coronary disease. This development will occur while contributing solutions to what are widely recognized as the most important challenges in cardiac PET/CT imaging.