2. Outline
• Nuclear Medicine
• PET
o Principles
o Radiopharmaceuticals
o Crystals
• PET/CT
o Imaging technique
o Clinical applications
o Radiation exposure
o Coincidence
o Resolution
o Limitations & advantages
Shabnam Mousavi, Medical Physicis
3. What is nuclear medicine?
• Biodistribution map of Radiopharmaceutical in Body
• Diagnostic (Gamma radiation) & Treatment (Beta radiation)
• Nuclear medicine imaging includes:
1. Radioisotopes (Generator, Baby cyclotron)
2. Radiopharmaceuticals (Hot Lab)
3. Instruments (PET & SPECT)
4. Data processing
Shabnam Mousavi, Medical Physicis
4. PET imaging
• Detecting (indirectly) positrron emission via the detection of both annihilation photons
(511 keV) that occur and hit opposite detector simultaneously
β⁺ emission
β⁺ annihilates to 2 photons
Photons are detected
Lies on a line
At a point determind by time of flight
• Positron imaging idea
• William H Sweet (Suggestion for using annihilation radiation)
First clinical positron imaging device 1953
Shabnam Mousavi, Medical Physicis
10. Designs for PET
• NaI PET system
• Coincidence Gamma Camera (PET/SPECT)
• Dedicated PET
• Hybrid PET/CT Scanner
• Small animal PET
• Portable PET
Shabnam Mousavi, Medical Physicis
11. PET/CT
• Was invented by Dr. Ron Nutt and Dr. David Townsend in 1998
• Medical inventions of the year 2000 by time magazine
• Commercially available in 2001
Shabnam Mousavi, Medical Physicis
Analog of glucose
Transported by facilitated diffusion
Phosphorylated within the cell to
[18F] FDG –6-phosphate
Phosphorylated FDG can not exit cell
Speciefic activity: High
Half life: Few minutes
Short: not enough time for examination
Long: High dose to the patients & Waste disposal
NaI
NaI detectors thickness (up to 30 mm)
Large area rather than a block configuration
Six such crystals in hexagonal arrangement
Suited to steady-state imaging
Due count rate limitations, are less suitable for performing kinetic studies
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Coincidence camera
Dual-head NaI-based gamma-cameras
Crystal thickness is 15 mm
Signal processing techniques improves poor
coincidence count rate capability
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Dedicated
One or more complete rings of block detectors
Small ring diameter (60 cm) for brain imaging
Larger ring diameter (100 cm) for whole body imaging
Axial field of view depends on the number of rings
Relatively high count rate capability
Suitable for kinetic studies
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animal
PET is
Noninvasive
Flexible in chemistry
Very attractive in the study of laboratory animals and measuring
biological process
Several dedicated PET with spatial resolution of 1-2 mm have been
developed for mice and rat