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EXPLORER, the world's first medical imaging scanner capable of capturing a 3D image of the entire human body at once, has produced its first scans.
An original idea from scientists at Davis University, Simon Cherry and Ramsey Badawi, EXPLORER is a combined CT with positron emission tomography (PET) and X-ray computed tomography (or computed tomography) that allows the entire body to be viewed simultaneously. Because the device captures radiation much more effectively than other scanners, EXPLORER can produce an image in just one second and, over time, produce films capable of tracking specially labeled drugs when they move throughout the body.
A short video of the analysis can be viewed at https://bit.ly/2FvQP8n.
Developers expect technology to have countless applications, from improving diagnostics to tracking disease progression to finding new drug treatments.
The first images of human scans using the new device will be presented at the next meeting of the North American Radiological Society, to be held Saturday, November 24 in Chicago. The scanner was developed in partnership with United Imaging Healthcare, Shanghai, who built the system on the basis of its latest technology platform and will eventually manufacture the devices for the wider healthcare market.
"Even though I had imagined what the images would look like for years, nothing prepared me for the incredible details we saw during this first scan," said Cherry, a distinguished professor of the Department of Public Health. Biomedical engineering of the UCD. "Although there is still a lot of careful analysis to do, I think we already know that EXPLORER delivers pretty much what we promised."
Badawi, head of nuclear medicine at UCD Health and vice president of research at the department of radiology, said he was stunned when he had seen the first images.
"The level of detail was incredible, especially when the reconstruction method was optimized," he said. "We've seen features you do not see about normal PET scans. And the dynamic sequence showing the radiotracer moving around the body in three dimensions over time was, frankly, disconcerting. There is no other device capable of obtaining such data in humans, so this is really a novelty. "
Badawi and Cherry conceptualized the body scanner 13 years ago. Their idea was launched in 2011 with a $ 1.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, which allowed them to create a large consortium of researchers and other collaborators. And he received a boost in 2015 with a $ 15.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The funding allowed them to team up with a commercial partner and build the first EXPLORER scanner.
Cherry said expecting EXPLORER to have a profound impact on clinical research and patient care, as it makes it possible to obtain diagnostic PETs of superior quality to those that do not. has never been possible. EXPLORER also scans up to 40 times faster than current PET scans and can produce a full body diagnostic scan in as little as 20 to 30 seconds.
EXPLORER can also scan with a radiation dose up to 40 times lower than that of a current PET scanner, opening up new avenues of research and making it possible to carry out numerous repeated studies on an individual, or considerably reducing the dose in patients. pediatric studies, in which cumulative control The radiation dose is particularly important.
"The tradeoff between image quality, acquisition time, and dose of radiation injected will vary by application, but in any case, we can scan better, faster, or with less radiation." , or a combination of these, "Cherry said.
For the first time, an imaging scanner will be able to simultaneously assess what is happening in all organs and tissues of the body. For example, it could quantitatively measure blood flow or how the body absorbs glucose throughout the body. Researchers are considering using CT to study cancer that has spread beyond a tumor site, inflammation, infection, immunological or metabolic disorders, and many other diseases.
"I do not think we'll see many EXPLORER systems around the world soon," said Cherry. "But it depends on the demonstration of the benefits of the system, both clinically and for research."
UC Davis is working closely with United Imaging Healthcare to have the first system delivered and installed at the EXPLORER imaging center in a leased space in Sacramento. The researchers hope to be able to launch research projects and image patients for the purpose of exploring in June 2019.
– UC Davis Health News
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