Development of high performance single photon emission computed tomography systems for simultaneous nuclear molecular imaging and magnetic resonance imaging

Lai, Xiaochun

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/95457 Copy

Description

Title

Development of high performance single photon emission computed tomography systems for simultaneous nuclear molecular imaging and magnetic resonance imaging

Author(s)

Lai, Xiaochun

Issue Date

2016-09-27

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Meng, Ling-Jian

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Meng, Ling-Jian

Committee Member(s)

• Sullivan, Clair Julia
• Uddin, Rizwan
• Dobrucki, Wawrzyniec Lawrence

Department of Study

Nuclear, Plasma, & Rad Engr

Discipline

Nuclear, Plasma, Radiolgc Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Cadmium tellurium (CdTe)
• Cadmium zinc tellurium (CZT)
• Energy resolved photon counting detector
• Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)
• MR compatible SPECT
• Compound eye gamma camera
• SPECT/MRI
• Nuclear molecular imaging
• Cell imaging

Abstract

Simultaneous nuclear molecular imaging (NMI) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have great potential for pre-clinical and clinical applications, especially for cell imaging in brain cancer models. We have pursued an intensive research effort to develop high-performance single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems for simultaneous NMI/MRI. This kind of system has sub-mm and even higher resolving power that allows a matched resolution for SPECT and MRI to visualize details about cell retention and migration, and provides a significant improvement of system sensitivity, even comparable with the sensitivity of positron emission tomography (PET), enabling detection of a small number of cells. The first key step to develop a high-performance SPECT system was building the first generation MR- compatible SPECT, called MRC-SPECT-I, which was a stationary full-ring system, consisting of forty MR- compatible, energy-resolved, photon-counting, and highly-pixelated CdTe semiconductor detectors. Preliminary studies demonstrated the system ability to track as few as 400 neural stem cells in a mouse brain with a sub-500 µm resolution. Although the MRC-SPECT-I was a state-of-the-art SPECT system, to further improve SPECT performance for simultaneous NMI and MRI, an inverted compound-eye (ICE) gamma-ray camera was proposed here for SPECT imaging applications and experimentally verified through a prototype system. The MRC-SPECT-II was designed utilizing 24 ICE gamma camera modules and consisted of more than 1,500 micro-pinhole cameras. The simulation results verified that the MRC-SPECT-II system was more than ten times as sensitive as conventional SPECT systems were while retaining a sub-500 µm resolving capability. Combining the high sensitivity of the SPECT system and the high soft tissue contrast and temporal resolution of MRI, simultaneous SPECT/MRI provides an attractive platform for functional and cell imaging of a wide range of disease models, such as cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.

Graduation Semester

2016-12

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95457

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 Xiaochun Lai

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