TH‐E‐103‐01: Nanotechnology & Molecular Imaging

• Published in: Medical Physics 2013-06, Vol.40 (6), p.550-550
• Main Authors: Xing, L, Pratx, G, Chang, S, Pogue, B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon nanotubes; Computed tomography; Digital tomosynthesis mammography; Dosimetry; Field emission; Medical imaging; Nanotechnology; Nanotube devices; Near infrared imaging; Spatial resolution
• ISSN: 0094-2405; 2473-4209
• DOI: 10.1118/1.4815812

Pushing PET Imaging to the Cellular Level: Development of a Radioluminescence Microscope — Guillem Pratx, PhD Molecular imaging with radionuclide probes provides sensitive, quantitative, and non‐invasive characterization of molecular disease processes in vivo at a macroscopic scale. However, current imaging technology lacks the ability to visualize the tremendous heterogeneity exhibited by biological processes at the single‐cell level. Little is known about the factors that modulate radiotracer uptake by single cells and explain observed cell‐to‐cell variation. The radioluminescence microscope has been developed as a new tool for the visualization of radiotracer uptake in single living cells. It provides a means to probe the dynamic of small‐molecule uptake with high spatial and temporal resolution, in a fluorescence microscopy environment. Two image acquisition schemes are presented: an analog acquisition mode for acquiring images quickly with little post‐processing, and a digital acquisition mode for precise quantitation of radiotracer concentration in individual cells. Several applications of this new imaging method will be presented, including imaging of dynamic FDG uptake in single cells, imaging of frozen tissue sections, and imaging of FDG uptake by single circulating tumor cells. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the limitations of current radionuclide imaging technology 2. Understand image formation in radioluminescence microscopy 3. Discover applications of radioluminescence microscopy Carbon Nanotubes Field Emission X‐ray Technologies for Research and Clinical Application in Radiation Oncology — Sha X. Chang Carbon nanotubes (CNT) field emission is a unique type of nanotechnology that has opened up new horizons for medical imaging and radiation therapy device technologies. The major advantages of the CNT field mission based x‐ray technologies over the conventional thermionic emission x‐ray technology are ultra‐high temporal resolution and flexibility in distributed x‐ray source design. The latter is deal for customizing cathode and thus the x‐ray tube design for each specific application. For instance, instead of a single point x‐ray source that rotates relative to the patient for tomosynthesis imaging a novel x‐ray tube with an array of individually addressable x‐ray pixel sources can acquire the image significantly faster and without tube rotation. The benefit in this case is higher patient comfort and less motion distortion for breast tomosy