Project description
Developing a high-resolution positron emission tomography scanner
Positron emission tomography (PET) scanners were invented in the 1970s and have become a widely used medical imaging tool. The EU-funded RETIMAGER project aims to take PET imaging to the next level by developing a scanner that provides a 10-fold improvement in spatial and temporal resolution compared to current clinical PET devices. This new scanner will enable real-time reconstruction of metabolic images and have applications in various medical fields. RETIMAGER will achieve this milestone by developing smart radiation detectors with non conventional geometries that combine the advantages of both pixelated and monolithic detectors. The scanner will provide 0.25 mm pixel resolvability with time frames as short as 0.01 sec, becoming a game-changer for understanding disease processes.
Objective
Over the last decades, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been firmly established as the predominant molecular imaging technique due to its unmatched sensitivity and capability to address many different metabolic processes. However, there is huge room for improvement, as current clinical PET scanners are limited to spatial resolutions higher than 2.5 mm and temporal resolutions longer than 5 seconds. This hampers applications of PET for preclinical research and clinical diagnosis in small tissues or lesions and precludes real-time reconstruction of metabolic images. RETIMAGER is a proposal for a molecular imaging system with a ten-fold spatial and temporal improvement on the reconstructed image with respect to current PET devices. This will not only boost the quantitative performance, but it will enable new applications in cardiology, vascular oncology, oncology, neurology, and other areas. We will achieve this milestone by developing smart radiation detectors with non-conventional geometries that combine the advantages of both pixelated and monolithic detectors, the two dominant and seemingly incompatible technologies employed in PET scanners. Our new scanner will provide 0.25 mm pixel resolvability with time frames as short as 0.01 sec. By aggregating these blocks in a unique gantry self-adapting to the geometry of the field-of-view, RETIMAGER will achieve an unprecedented increase in sensitivity and in in vivo real-time imaging with submillimeter resolution. We will pair it with high-throughput data processing and AI tools to assess with a single tracer both perfusion and metabolism in preclinical and clinical models. In the long run, RETIMAGER’s faster, lower dose, and less invasive molecular imaging technology will become a game-changer for understanding disease processes by unveiling new accurate image-based quantitative biomarkers, taking scientific and healthcare stakeholders a step closer to personalized precision medicine.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC GrantsCoordinator
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain