Biograph Vision 600 PET/CT system

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract: For 70 years, the Division of Nuclear Medicine and colleagues at the University of Michigan (UM) have been continuously developing radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging (e.g. positron emission tomography, PET), as well as radiotherapy, and translating them for clinical care. Radiopharmaceuticals developed by UM for imaging and/or treatment of neuroendocrine tumors (131I-meta-iodobenzoguanidine), cardiac and neuroendocrine tumor PET (3-[18F]fluoro-p-hydroxyphenethylguanidine), treatment of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (131I-tositumomab; Bexxar), imaging of cholesterol trafficking (123I-NP59, [18F]FNP59), and PET imaging of the cholinergic (1-[11C]methylpiperidin-4-yl propionate, [18F]fluoroethoxybenzovesamicol) and dopaminergic ([11C]dihydrotetrabenazine) systems have transformed diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy, and are in widespread use around the world today. In addition, our advanced cyclotron and cGMP radiochemistry manufacturing facility provides dozens of established radiopharmaceuticals to support ongoing research for a cadre of leading imaging researchers with extensive NIH funding. However, despite these many resources and demonstrated successes, a key challenge for the future of our research program is our ageing clinical research PET/CT scanner. The existing Siemens Biograph Truepoint is 14 years old (installed 2008), increasingly unreliable (there have been 10 days of unscheduled downtime due to 4 separate part failures in the last 6 months) and the manufacturer no longer guarantees service for the scanner due to its advanced age and declining availability of legacy parts. This challenge will be addressed by this grant. To ensure ongoing success of Nuclear Medicine at UM, this S10 Equipment Grant requests funds to replace our outdated clinical research scanner with a state-of-the-art Siemens Biograph Vision 600 PET/CT. The Vision 600 is a whole-body PET/CT designed for oncological, neurological and cardiac PET/CT imaging, and due to its high sensitivity (100 cps/kBq), excellent volumetric resolution (51-mm3) and fast time-of-flight (214 ps), the scanner produces both highly- detailed anatomical CT scans and exquisite PET scans allowing quantification of biological processes at the molecular level. The advanced features of the Vision 600 will allow our core group of 13 major users (all of whom have current NIH funding) and 3 minor users (1 of whom has current NIH funding) to advance their research agendas. This user group will use the PET/CT scanner 98% of the time, and additional users from outside this core user base will be able to access unused imaging slots. Daily operation of the instrument will be carried out by our technologists, who between them have decades of experience in PET/CT imaging and work closely with our radiochemists, nuclear pharmacists, authorized user physician and faculty to perform ~ 800 research studies each year. The service contract for the scanner will be covered by our core recharge mechanism, a reliable means of support that has been in place for decades. Daily of the instrument will be overseen by an Operations Committee, with high level Departmental and Institutional oversight provided by an Internal Advisory Board.