Molecular Imaging

The value of positron emission tomography (PET) lies in its unsurpassed high-sensitivity for tracking biomarkers and molecular processes in vivo; however, it lacks the ability of multiplexing signals from more than one radiotracer thus limiting the amount of information available after each scan.  We have developed a new technology compatible with any existing PET system, that enables simultaneous imaging of two radio tracers in a single PET acquisition. We accomplished this by combining a radiotracer labeled with a standard positron-emitting radionuclide with another labeled with a radionuclide emitting prompt γ-rays together with the positrons. Recovered images from simultaneous dual-tracer PET acquisitions were comparable to those obtained in sequential single tracer scans, allowing the identification and quantification in-vivo of several interlinked disease markers in a single acquisition

Related work

1. Lage, Joaquin L. Herraiz, V. Parot. “Multiplexable Emission tomography” PCT/US2013/038846,
2. Garrido, E. Lage, M. Papisov, A. Santos, M.A. Lessa, S Weise, C. Kosour, J. Venegas, J.L. Herraiz.  Multiplexed dynamic PET imaging of the lungs based on triple coincidences, 2017 ISBI Conference (Asutralia)
3. L. Herraiz, F. Mulero, V. Parot, S. Dave, S. Moore, J.M. Udias, J.J. Vaquero and E. Lage. “mPET: Herramienta innovadora para imagen PET multitrazador”. 34 Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular 2014 Oral Presentation Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol. 2014;33(Supl 1):119 5-Y IF: 0.89
4. L Herraiz, E. Lage, J. Venegas. “Simultaneous PET imaging of Liquid Abpsortion and Mucociliary transport in the Lungs based on Triple coincidences”. at the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (2016 NSS/MIC), France, 2016 , Oral  Presentation (#M07-4).
5. L. Herraiz, S. C. Moore, M.-A. Park, J. M. Udias, J. J. Vaquero and E. Lage. “Image Quality Assessment of Multiplexed PET” IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2015. Oral presentation (M5C2-4).
6. L. Herraiz, S. C. Moore, M. Cervo, S. Espana, J. Ruiz-Cabello and E. Lage. “Multiplexed PET in Clinical Scanners based on Triple coincidences”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2014. Oral presentation(M06-7).
7. Parot, J.L. Herraiz, S. R. Dave, J.M. Udias, S.C. Moore, M. Park, J.J. Vaquero, E. Lage. “A new approach for multiplexed PET imaging”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2013. Oral Presentation (M03-5).
8. L. Herraiz, E. Lage, V. parot, S. R. Dave, J.M. Udias, J.J. Vaquero, L. M. Fraile. “Production of positron-gamma emitters for multiplexed PET (mPET) imaging”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2013. Poster Presentation.

       DOI: 10.1109/NSSMIC.2013.6829189

Triple coincidences in positron emission tomography (PET) are events in which three γ-rays are detected simultaneously. These events, though potentially useful for enhancing the sensitivity of PET scanners, are discarded or processed without special consideration in current systems, because there is not a clear criterion for assigning them to a unique line-of-response (LOR). We have developed several novel strategies to use these type of events in PET including multiplexed PET imaging, enhance the sensitivity of the scanner or improve image quality when using non-standard positron emitting radionuclides.

Related work

1. E. Lage, V. Parot, S. C. Moore, A. Sitek, J. M. Udias, S. R. Dave, M. Park, J.J. Vaquero, J. L. Herraiz. “Recovery and Normalization of triple coincidences in PET”. Medical Physics 42, 1398 (2015)
2. J. Cal-Gonzalez, E. Lage, E. Herranz, E. Vicente, J.M. Udias, S.R. Dave, V. Parot, J.L. Herraiz. Simulation of triple coincidences in PET”. Physics in Medicine and Biology vol 60 (1), 2015.
3. E. Lage, Joaquin L. Herraiz, Vicente Parot, Shivang R. Dave, “Inter-detector scatter enhanced emission tomography”,  PCT/US2013/068858, Patent
4. Joaquín L. Herraiz, Eduardo Lage, Vicente Parot, Shivang R. Dave. “System and Method to improve image quality of emission tomography when using advanced radionuclides”, PCT/US2014/045220
5. Eduardo Lage, Joaquín L. Herraiz,  Vicente Parot, Shivang R. Dave. “Normalization correction for multiple-detection  enhanced emission tomography” PCT/US2014/043826, Patent
6. S. C. Moore, M. Cervo, Scott D. Metzler, E. Lage, J. M. Udias, J.L. Herraiz. “Iterative demultiplexing of Multiple-Pinhole SPECT projection Data”, IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2015. Poster presentation (M5DP-152).
7. J. L. Herraiz, S. C. Moore, V. Parot, S.R. Dave, M. Park, S. Yoo, W. Lee, H. Kim and E. Lage. “A prompt-gamma correction method for non-standard PET radionuclides base on the detection of triple coincidences”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2014. Oral Presentation (M22-3).
8. J. Cal-Gonzalez, E. Herranz, J.M. Udias, S.R. Dave, V. Parot, E. Lage, J.L. Herraiz. “Simulation of triple coincidences in PET”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2013. Poster Presentation. DOI : 10.1109/NSSMIC.2013.6829155
9. E. Lage, V. Parot, J.M. Udías, S.C. Moore, M. Park, J.J. Vaquero, A. Sitek, S. R. Dave and J.L. Herraiz. ”Recovery of muti-interaction photon events to improve the performance of PET scanners”. IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference, 2013. Poster Presentation (M18-44).