Nuclear imaging technology, such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) allows physicians to pinpoint the location of cancer within the body before making treatment recommendations. As it offers fast and accurate imaging of many diseases, the utilization of nuclear imaging is constantly growing. The nuclear Imaging equipment market is at $1.47 billion and is expected to grow with CAGR of over 5%, fueled by the increasing geriatric population and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and neurological disorders.
The goal of the ULTIMA project is to demonstrate the Proof of Concept (PoC) of a State-of-the-art (SoA) nuclear imaging innovation originating from the PI’s ERC Advanced Grant Project TICA. The innovation is based on a layer of nanostructured photonic crystal applied on the light extraction face of the scintillating crystals used in PET scanners. The resulting improved light output and optimized light transport mechanism from the emission point to the photodetector, complemented with fast data acquisition electronics, enable the detection of energy deposition with significantly improved energy and time resolution levels, comparable to the levels achieved by particle physics detectors. In turn, the innovation will allow the construction of a high-resolution 4D energy deposition map in a similar energy range as for a PET scanner.
Applying this disruptive technology on a new generation of Time-of-Flight PET scanners with direct 3D image reconstruction capabilities, is likely to gain an order of a magnitude Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) improvement over the existing commercial systems. Higher SNR is the key for the detection of smaller lesions, faster patient scanning process and lower ionizing radiation doses received by the patients.
In order to assess the performance improvement resulting from the introduction of photonic crystals in PET detector technology two detector modules (16 LYSO crystals each) from the ClearPEM breast imaging PET scanner have been treated with photonic crystals. We have developed a cheap production method for the production and application of these photonic crystals in collaboration with the company Radiation Monitoring Devices (RMD) near Boston, MA, USA. The photonic crystals have been nano-imprinted according to a design made by ULTIMA on a high refraction index polymer developed in partnership by RMD and the company Abeam technology in California.
The gain observed on LYSO crystals are 24% in light yield and 38% in energy resolution.
