Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has become an important tool in the fight against cancer. PET is now being used in diverse studies ranging from basic research in animal models of cancer in the mouse, through to diagnosis and staging of cancer patients in the clinic. 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 an urgent need for improvement in PET instrumentation in order to exploit full potential of this promising technique. In order to address the limitations in the existing detector technology used in PET systems, particularly the photomultiplier tubes used for optical readout of scintillators, we propose to investigate a novel, solid state position sensitive optical detector technology. This new optical detector technology can be used to build high resolution PET modules, which can be utilized in PET systems suitable for clinical whole body imaging as well as dedicated, high resolution systems for breast and small animal imaging. The proposed Phase I project will aim to demonstrate the feasibility of this concept.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase I (R43)
Project #
1R43CA094385-01
Application #
6437085
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1-SRRB-D (O1))
Program Officer
Farahani, Keyvan
Project Start
2002-06-12
Project End
2004-06-11
Budget Start
2002-06-12
Budget End
2003-06-11
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$256,603
Indirect Cost
Name
Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
073804411
City
Watertown
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02472
Chaudhari, Abhijit J; Joshi, Anand A; Wu, Yibao et al. (2009) Spatial distortion correction and crystal identification for MRI-compatible position-sensitive avalanche photodiode-based PET scanners. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci 56:549-556