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Most major investigations do not happen overnight. This is the case of EXPLORER, the first full body medical scanner capable of capturing three-dimensional images from head to toe. Simon Cherry and Ramsey Badawi, scientists at the University of California at Davis, successfully applied this positron emission tomography machine or "PET" for its acronym in English.
The initial idea appeared in 2011, with a $ 1.5 million grant from the National Institute Against Cancer, but later in 2015, funding was expanded with 15.5 additional millions from NIH. At the end of November 2018, they were able to display the first images captured with their body scanners and was expected to be enlarged in some Sacramento hospitals in the spring of 2019 .
A faster and less intrusive body scanner
Mediante Tomography by positron emission and X-ray tomography (CT), this machine can produce images in one second. Some images show features that are not usually seen in conventional PET scanners. The EXPLORER is 40 times faster and allows for a full body scan in about 20 or 30 seconds .
With this scanner, the creators ensure that it will be possible to improve the monitoring of the metabolism and excretion of many substances. In addition, how do some drugs affect the whole body? A concrete example of this can be seen in the distribution of a radiolabeled sugar (fluorodeoxyglucose) throughout the body . The substance is injected into the body and, thanks to EXPLORER, one can see in real time how the sugar circulates in the heart and is distributed in the arteries. In addition, after a few minutes, you can see what part of the substance is moving from the kidneys to the bladder and is progressively remaining in the heart or brain.
In addition to offering really striking images, the scanner would get a dose of radiation up to 40 times smaller than a standard PET. This opens the door to new studies that, until now, have been rejected as too intrusive. For example, repeated scans can be performed on the same patient or in pediatric studies where the radiation to which children are exposed is more thoroughly controlled.
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