Nuclear Medicine Archives

On-Board Imager™

by Gene Ostrovsky on Jan 17, 2006

Varian Medical Systems, Inc., a Palo Alto, California company, has announced that two of its On-Board Imager™ devices for 3D Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) have been installed at the new University College Hospital in the UK. Another such device has been installed at the Humanitas Clinic in Milan, the first for Italy. On-Board Imager™ is an accessory medgadget for the Clinac&reg and Trilogy™ medical linear accelerators (covered earlier), and is designed to improve “the precision and effectiveness of cancer treatments by giving doctors the ability to target and track tumors more accurately,” according to the company.
Here’s an explanation on how the combined system, tanked up with robotic technology, functions:

Up to now, radiation oncologists have had to contend with variations in patient positioning and with respiratory motion by treating a margin of healthy tissue around the tumor. IGRT enables doctors to locate the tumor while the patient is in the treatment position, and to minimize the volume of healthy tissue exposed to radiation during treatment.

Varian’s On-Board Imager is mounted on the treatment machine via robotically controlled arms which operate along three axes of motion, so that they can be positioned optimally for the best possible view of the tumor.
An amorphous silicon flat-panel X-ray image detector yields digital images showing internal anatomic landmarks with a high degree of precision. In addition, the image detector can track anatomic motion and thus provide doctors with a clear indication of exactly how a tumor will move during treatment due to respiration or other normal physiological processes. Varian has also incorporated a unique 150 kV X-ray tube designed for generating precise, high-resolution CT-quality images from a moving gantry.
By using the robotic technology and control software to position the On-Board Imager and patient couch, the total system offers the automation, speed, and flexibility needed to make the IGRT process clinically practical for thousands of cancer patients. The system is designed for full integration with Varian’s VARiS Vision™ image and information management system as well as the company’s Eclipse™ treatment planning software products.
Varian’s Clinac and Trilogy accelerators, equipped with the new On-Board Imager, will give doctors the best of two critical technologies for image-guided radiation therapy. It combines two important technologies on one platform-low-dose, high resolution, kilovoltage X-ray imaging and integrated software control of all treatment parameters. This opens the door to improved, rapid, cost-effective automated treatments that are conducive to patient comfort.

The product page…

Nuclear Medicine / Radiology

New Microchip Technology for PET Biomarkers Developed

by Gene Ostrovsky on Dec 19, 2005

Currently, positron emission tomography (PET) relies on fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a labeled version of glucose, to do the functional visualization of body’s metabolism. A team of scientists from UCLA, the California Institute of Technology, Stanford, Siemens and Fluidigm, have developed a novel technology based on integrated microfluidic chips that is promising to simplify and diversify the types of molecules used in PET scanning. According to UCLA press release, the PET scan of the future might become even more important among imaging modalities:

Researchers demonstrated a new technology of a programmable chip that can dramatically accelerate the development of many new molecular imaging molecules for PET. As a proof of principle, this group of academic and commercial scientists demonstrated that FDG could be synthesized on a “stamp-size” chip. These chips have a design similar to integrated electronic circuits, except they are made up of fluid channels, chambers, and values, or switches, that can carry out many chemical operations to synthesize and label molecules for PET imaging. All the operations of the chip are controlled and executed by a PC.
Read More »

Cardiology / Nuclear Medicine

D-SPECT™ Cardiac Scanner

by Gene Ostrovsky on Dec 7, 2005

In a recent headline from the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), a new imaging modality called dynamic single photon emission computed tomography (D-SPECT) was described as having better specificity and sensitivity than Anger Camera SPECT (A-SPECT) technology:

Phantom studies were carried out to assess sensitivity and resolution of D-SPECT in comparison with the conventional Anger Camera SPECT (A-SPECT). In all studies, the D-SPECT system sensitivity was more than 10 times greater than A-SPECT. D-SPECT spatial resolution was two times higher than A-SPECT, despite imaging for one-tenth the time. Excellent images in human volunteers have also been obtained in two minutes with D-SPECT compared to 17 minutes with conventional SPECT…

Gold Nanorods Brighten Future for Medical Imaging

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 28, 2005

Researchers at Purdue University are developing nano dye for to-be-defined medical imaging technique of the future, and results are already quite impressive:

Researchers at Purdue University have taken a step toward developing a new type of ultra-sensitive medical imaging technique that works by shining a laser through the skin to detect tiny gold nanorods injected into the bloodstream.
Read More »

Neurology / Nuclear Medicine

Gamma Knife Effective in Treating Trigeminal Neuralgia

by Gene Ostrovsky on Oct 20, 2005

Clinicians at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center have shown that Gamma Knife Stereotactic Radiosurgery (GKRS) is an effective non-invasive treatment for tic douloureaux:

Results of the study are being presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) meeting in Denver on Oct.19.
Read More »

in the news... / Nuclear Medicine

Radioactive Tracer Reveals Ischemic Memory

by Gene Ostrovsky on Sep 28, 2005

A national team of researchers lead by a team at the University of Maryland Medical Center has completed phase 2a clinical study demonstrating that Zemiva™, a radioactive tracer (iodofiltic acid I123), can detect areas of decreased fatty acid metabolism in the heart at rest, and hence “can show images of heart damage up to 30 hours after a brief interruption of blood flow and oxygen.” From the UMMC press office announcement:

The discovery may help physicians in emergency rooms and in their offices determine whether a patient’s chest pain, which may have subsided hours earlier, is related to heart disease or something else, such as indigestion. The results of the study appear today in Circulation Online and will appear in the print version of Circulation on October 4, 2005.
Read More »

Nuclear Medicine

GammaWatch Radiation Detector

by Nicholas Genes on Sep 21, 2005

Hey, nuclear medicine personnel — are you tired of toting around that boxy, bland radiation badge on your lab coat? Want a bland, styleless watch instead?
Then consider the GammaMaster from GammaWatch, the watch with a built-in Geiger counter:

Cold War Provides Helpful New Forensic Tool

by editors on Sep 16, 2005

One of the most important questions in forensic science is to determine the age of remains. This can be difficult, because currently employed methods can have associated errors ranging between five to ten years. However, a promising new forensic tool seems to have emerged from the fallout of nuclear bomb testing.
According to a report published this week in the journal Nature, carbon isotopes generated from atmospheric atomic bomb testing trapped in tooth enamel may provide a more precise method for determining a deceased individual’s age than other forensic methods can.

Nuclear Medicine / Radiology

Kodak Introduces New Digital Imaging Systems

by editors on Sep 7, 2005

Eastman Kodak Company’s Molecular Imaging Systems group announced the availability of two new digital imaging systems for in vivo molecular imaging in life science research and drug discovery applications.
The Kodak Image Station In-Vivo F and FX systems, available immediately, feature cooled CCD camera technology and selectable multi-wavelength illumination for sensitive, quantitative imaging of luminescent, fluorescent, and radiographic labeled biomolecules in vivo. The Image Station In-Vivo FX system also provides an integrated digital x-ray imaging source and a phosphor based radiographic imaging screen enabling digital radiography. By precisely co-registering anatomical x-rays of tissues and organs with near-IR, isotopic or luminescent optical imaging modes, a significant improvement in anatomical localization of molecular signals is achieved. Some boasting from the company:

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Nuclear Medicine Archives

On-Board Imager™

New Microchip Technology for PET Biomarkers Developed

D-SPECT™ Cardiac Scanner

Gold Nanorods Brighten Future for Medical Imaging

Gamma Knife Effective in Treating Trigeminal Neuralgia

Radioactive Tracer Reveals Ischemic Memory

GammaWatch Radiation Detector

Cold War Provides Helpful New Forensic Tool

Kodak Introduces New Digital Imaging Systems