Speaker
Description
Nuclear Medical Imaging is at the forefront of molecular imaging diagnostic, theragnostic and treatment follow-up techniques for a number of diseases (cancer, neurodegenerative impairment, cardiovascular disorders, etc…), particularly in the rapidly growing context of personalised medicine.
However, there is a dramatic unbalance for the access to molecular imaging diagnostic tools between highly developed and low- and medium-income countries (LCMIs).
Low-cost technologies designed specifically for LMICs can make huge strides toward addressing precise population health needs within the local context. The very fruitful cross-fertilisation between physics and medicine opens new ways to the development of cost-effective and portable imaging approaches, allowing a better deployment of nuclear imaging modalities in LMICs, with a huge economic impact and high return for each invested dollar.
In particular fast timing techniques, as promoted by the 10 ps TOFPET challenge, are highly relevant for the development of cost-effective, organ specific, light and easy transportable scanners, addressing the geographic barriers that often exist in LMICs. They are not intended to cheaply mimic high-end technology but focus on intentionally addressing local health care needs while considering local challenges.
At 100 ps coincidence time resolution, the resulting effective sensitivity gain allows reducing by the same factor the dose injected to the patient and could extend PET usage from simple diagnostic to screening populations at risk of high prevalence diseases in LMICs. Lower doses also allow distributing radiotracers at larger distances from the production cyclotron, significantly reducing the cost of the radiotracer production infrastructure. Open geometries with a reduced number of channels (spaced rings, plates) can be considered because of the reduction of artifacts from incomplete tomographic coverage. Moreover, if the TOF resolution approaches 50 ps, it starts becoming the dominant factor influencing the spatial resolution, over the crystal dimensions, allowing the use of larger size crystals and a further reduction of the number of channels.
| Track | Deployment of Nuclear Medicine in LMICs: Enabling Technologies |
|---|---|
| Presentation type | Oral |