PARENT SESSION
1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Sunday, April 21, 2002
Poster Session 1 Imaging/Spectroscopy
Room: Nevada Exhibition Center

(P06-47) A portable PET system for analysis of accelerator activated ¹⁵O washout.

Bogojevska, Michelle^*,1, Wong, John¹, Oldham, Mark¹, Wong, Tony¹, Laub, Wolfram¹, Armour, Elwood¹, ¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, Royal Oak, MI

ABSTRACT-
Most advances in cancer therapy are directed at improving the cure rate of a specific type and grade of tumor. In spite of dramatic improvement with some tumor types, a major problem in improving cure rates for many tumors is that the response of tumors to therapy varies greatly from one patient to another. Imaging tools that can biologically characterize tumors hold great promise for prognosis and optimization of therapy by determining appropriate modality and dosage for each individual patient. These diagnostic tools could also be used to monitor a patient's tumor and adjust treatment during therapy. One of the tumor bio/functional characteristics that is important in determining tumor growth and response to therapy is tumor blood flow. We are currently developing an imaging technique that will measure washout of accelerator activated ¹⁵O concurrent with routine radiation therapy. This technique requires a sensitive and portable PET camera (PPET). A unique PPET system produced for this specific purpose has been characterized and used to evaluate the activation characteristics of high energy clinical accelerator beam. The resolution and sensitivity of the PPET with emphasis on advantages and limitations of the system will be presented. The spatial resolution of the system is 1.4 cm. The system is capable of detecting a point source of 0.002 Ci in a low background environment and 0.06 Ci in a high background. Successful development of the accelerator-PPET blood flow imaging system will hopefully lead to a tool that can be used to improve radiation therapy of cancer patients Supported by William Beaumont Hospital Research Institute grant RI-00-10 and a grant from Elekta Oncology Systems .

KEYWORDS: PET, Perfusion, washout