Development and Design of Next-Generation Head-Mounted Ambulatory Microdose Positron-Emission Tomography (AM-PET) System.

Samantha Melroy,Alexander Stolin,Christopher Bauer,Garret Carden,Thorsten Wuest,Stan Majewski,Julie Brefczynski-Lewis,Matthew Mchugh

doi:10.3390/s17051164

Abstract

Several applications exist for a whole brain positron-emission tomography (PET) brain imager designed as a portable unit that can be worn on a patient’s head. Enabled by improvements in detector technology, a lightweight, high performance device would allow PET brain imaging in different environments and during behavioral tasks. Such a wearable system that allows the subjects to move their heads and walk—the Ambulatory Microdose PET (AM-PET)—is currently under development. This imager will be helpful for testing subjects performing selected activities such as gestures, virtual reality activities and walking. The need for this type of lightweight mobile device has led to the construction of a proof of concept portable head-worn unit that uses twelve silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) PET module sensors built into a small ring which fits around the head. This paper is focused on the engineering design of mechanical support aspects of the AM-PET project, both of the current device as well as of the coming next-generation devices. The goal of this work is to optimize design of the scanner and its mechanics to improve comfort for the subject by reducing the effect of weight, and to enable diversification of its applications amongst different research activities.

Highlights

Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) is an imaging modality which takes advantage of radiation emitted from labeled ligands to produce a medical image of the distribution of the imaging agent in the animal or in human body
The purpose of this paper is to describe the design plans of a mechanical system to collect high quality images with West Virginia University (WVU)’s portable AM-positron-emission tomography (PET) Helmet_PET with consideration of a patient’s comfort and safety and outline the technical aspects and advantages of a generation 1 Ambulatory Microdose PET (AM-PET) system
In the Generation 0 imager, we were able to demonstrate that a wearable lightweight PET

Summary

Introduction

Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) is an imaging modality which takes advantage of radiation emitted from labeled ligands to produce a medical image of the distribution of the imaging agent in the animal or in human body. In conventional PET systems, the individual undergoing the scan must remain very still for long durations in the supine position to get useful images for analysis. This limitation, along with radiation exposure inherent in PET imaging, reduces the utility of this particular modality both clinically and in research. A more mobile, low dose variant of a PET system, that does not require patients to remain still for long periods of time would benefit the imaging of patients with cancer, dementias such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, depression, epilepsy, stroke, or any other kind of brain injury [1,2,3,4,5]. A lower dose would allow more frequent use such as longitudinal scans, for example, in assessing brain changes in stroke recovery, in tumor remission monitoring, and be preferred when needed to image pediatric populations

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