HIGH RESOLUTION NUCLEAR CARDIAC IMAGING

描述(申请人提供)：核医学成像方式，如单光子发射计算机断层扫描(SPECT)和正电子发射断层扫描(PET)，是强大的、非侵入性的医学成像技术，提供放射性核素在任何切片上通过体内被研究器官的三维分布的图像。这些图像可以研究被研究区域的新陈代谢，是了解器官功能和诊断疾病症状的有用工具。核医学是心脏影像的一种非常重要的方式，既能提供诊断，也能提供预后。SPECT更常用于定位冠状动脉疾病，现在多达90%的心肌灌注研究是使用SPECT进行的。PET在心脏成像中的作用正在逐渐扩大，特别是在检测冠状动脉疾病(其准确率比SPECT高约10%至15%)和评估心肌存活方面。核医学与X射线CT成像相结合的最新发展为心脏成像研究提供了更好的衰减校正。很明显，核医学技术在心脏护理和临床诊断中发挥着突出的和越来越重要的作用。然而，迫切需要改进这些成像模式的性能，以便充分发挥其潜力。这项拟议工作的目标是研究一种用于核医学的新的高分辨率探测器。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nuclear medicine imaging modalities such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) are powerful, non-invasive medical imaging techniques that provide an image of the three dimensional distribution of a radionuclide in any slice through an organ under study in the body. These images allow investigation of metabolism in the region being studied and are a useful tool for understanding the functioning of the organs as well as diagnosing symptoms of diseases. Nuclear medicine is a very important modality in cardiac imaging, providing both diagnosis as well as prognosis. SPECT is more commonly used in localizing coronary artery disease and as many as 90% of myocardial perfusion studies are now performed using SPECT. The role of PET in cardiac imaging is gradually expanding, particularly in the areas of detecting coronary artery disease (where it shows ~10 to 15% higher accuracy then SPECT) and assessing myocardial viability. Recent developments in combining nuclear medicine with X-ray CT imaging provide better attenuation correction in cardiac imaging studies. It is clear that nuclear medicine technologies are playing a prominent and an increasingly important role in cardiac care and clinical diagnosis. However, there is urgent need for improvement in the performance of these imaging modalities in order to exploit their full potential. The goal of the proposed effort is to investigate a new high resolution detector for nuclear medicine.