Faglig rapport 2010 - Helse Vest

424Strategiske midler - billeddiagnostikk, prosjekt 911594Eli Renate GrünerImproved diagnostics in Positron Emission Tomography (PET)through the extraction of temporal characteristics from detectorsystem and tissueProsjektansvarlig: Eli Renate Grüner (Renate@fmri.no), Helse Bergen HFImproved PET imaging – development of a prototypeThe main objective is to increase sensitivity in PET imaging. In 2010, the main focus has beenthe development of a novel, small scale PET prototype with improved detection capabilities. Inthe current phase characterization of detector elements and development of Monte Carlosimulation tools have been of particular emphasis.The primary factors contributing to the temporal characteristics in PET are the ability of the detectorsystem to extract and make use of any temporal information and the temporal characteristics of thetracer uptake in biological tissue. The current project thus focuses on two strategies to includetemporal information in PET. First, based on the longstanding experience in developing intelligent highenergy physics detectors at the University of Bergen (UoB), a small scale PET detector system withtime-of-flight capabilities is being designed and tested. Second, the clinical PET detector system at thenew PET Centre in Bergen will be used to studying the dynamics of PET radiotracer uptake, boththrough Monte Carlo simulations and through in vivo measurements, using a novel tracer kineticmodel developed in house (attached two of our papers showing recent applications of similar modelsin MRI data). One ultimate goal is to use the prototype PET detector in cohort with the clinical PETdetector in a feasibility study collecting data by combining the two systems.The project provides a strong interdisciplinary research agenda, and has the intention to bridge basicresearch in high energy physics and applied biomedical sciences, allowing developments and knowhowin one field to impact solutions in the other. It is established in collaboration between the PETCentre in Bergen, Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital and the Department ofPhysics and Technology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, UoB.The current project is one of the ongoing MedViz projects (project #8) that were started in 2010(http://www.medviz.uib.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177&Itemid=136). Therelated funding has been used to cover a few detector crystals, some man power expenses andestablishing some computational resources. This project is directly linked to the Helse Vest financedPhD project of Njål Brekke in 2008 (Dept of Radiology/ Dept of Physics and Technology) and the ongoingactivities at the detector lab at the Department of Physics and Technology(https://wikihost.uib.no/ift/index.php/Detector_lab).The main objective has been to contribute to the development of the PET prototype with high spatialresolution, high energy resolution, good time-of-flight resolution and high detection efficiency. In 2010,three master students in physics completed their thesis related to the on-going work in the detector lab(https://wikihost.uib.no/ift/index.php/Documentation-list) under the supervision of Prof. Dieter Röhrichand/or Assoc. Prof. Renate Grüner. Results from the PhD project (Njål Brekke) were presentedinternationally at the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference in Knoxville,Tennessee, and summarized in a subsequent conference paper.2 vitenskapelige artikler er publisert i 2010Moen Gunnar, Specht Karsten, Taxt Torfinn, Sundal Endre, Grøning Marit, Thorsen Einar, Troland Kari, Irgens Agot, GrünerRenateCerebral diffusion and perfusion deficits in North Sea divers.Acta Radiol 2010 Nov;51(9):1050-8.PMID: 20849321Nordli Håkon, Taxt Torfinn, Moen Gunnar, Grüner RenateVoxel-specific brain arterial input functions from dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI and blind deconvolution in a group ofhealthy males.Acta Radiol 2010 Apr;51(3):334-43.PMID: 20192895Detection and Diagnosis - Cancer