Simultaneous molecular and anatomical imaging of the mousein vivo

Abstract

Non-invasive imaging technologies are opening up new windows into mouse biology. We have developed a mouse imaging system that integrates positron emission tomography (PET) with x-ray computed tomography (CT), allowing simultaneous anatomic and molecular imaging in vivo with the potential for precise registration of the two image volumes. The x-ray system consists of a compact mini-focal x-ray tube and an amorphous selenium flat panel x-ray detector with a low-noise CMOS readout. The PET system uses planar arrays of lutetium oxyorthosilicate scintillator coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes. We describe the design of this dual-modality imaging system and show, for the first time, simultaneously acquired PET and CT images in a phantom and in mice.

High-Resolution CT for Small-Animal Imaging Research

“…Micro-CT is therefore useful in providing anatomical reference and also enables corrections of g-ray attenuations through tissue. Multimodality can be best performed by combining both imaging modalities (micro-PET/micro-CT or micro-SPECT/micro-CT) in one scanner (sometimes referred to as hardware image fusion) and performing simultaneous or sequential data acquisitions (Goertzen et al, 2002;Kastis et al, 2004;Liang et al, 2007). Even in case of hardware fusion, a rigid registration must be applied to match the reference frames of the different acquisition systems (Jan et al, 2005).…”

Dual-Modality Imaging: More Than the Sum of its Components

“…Dual-modality imaging offers potential advantages in biological studies, similar to those offered in clinical protocols. 120,[130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138] First, the availability of anatomical data improves localization and interpretation of studies involving radiopharmaceutical uptake. In addition, the visual quality and quantitative accuracy of small animal imaging can be improved using x-ray based techniques to correct the radionuclide data for physical errors contributed by photon attenuation, scatter radiation, and partial volume effects due to the limited spatial resolution of the radionuclide imaging system.…”

“…The same group also has developed a microCT/microPET dual-modality imaging system. 131 The microPET detectors use LSO scintillator coupled through a fiber-optic taper to a position sensitive photomultiplier tube. These are placed on opposite sides of the animal with the annihilation photons from the positron emission detected in coincidence.…”

“…Reprinted with permission from ref. 131 imaging of mice, rats, and other small animals ( Figure 13). The scintillation camera can be operated with pinhole collimators that provide submillimeter spatial resolution in the reconstructed images or with parallel-hole collimators when higher detection sensitivity or whole body imaging is desired.…”

Advances in Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging of Breast Lesions

“…Such hybrid approaches could generate image data that combine the functional information of optical imaging with the high spatial resolution of structural information in MRI. Hybrid imaging systems also avoid complications associated with tissue movement between separate exams, which reduce coregistration accuracy and thus degrade the diagnostic value of the image fusion 78 .…”