High-resolution PET/CT development

Abstract

The main clinical application of positron emission tomography (PET) is in oncology, where it is used to diagnose malignant tumors, cancer staging, treatment response, follow-ups, and recurrence of diseases. The PET camera can detect therapeutic changes earlier than anatomical imaging modalities, because the structure being studied must significantly change in size and shape before it is detectable by the latter devices. Such important features of PET in oncology are, however, reduced by the image resolution and quality (noise) of clinical PET/CT systems, thereby limiting its effectiveness to diagnose lesions under a centimeter in size. Improving the PET image resolution and quality would enhance the oncologic efficacy of PET/CT by detecting smaller lesions with more accuracy of tracer uptake. It would also lead to earlier cancer detection, more accurate cancer staging, and more sensitive monitoring of treatment responses.