Functional MicroPET and Hybrid MicroPET/CT Scanning
In late December, 2006, we received the first Inveon microCT/microPET hybrid scanner from Siemens. This first hybrid scanner coupled with our own proprietary cell-selective imaging and contrast agents affords our investigators unique disease detection and evaluation technologies which can only be provided at UW. This new scanner provides unsurpassed PET sensitivity (>10%), resolution (1.2 mm), and axial field of view (13 mm) as well as 15-micron spatial CT resolution and real time image reconstruction. This system is equipped with a built in BioVet physiologic monitoring system which permits gated image acquisition and animal monitoring, integrated isoflurane anesthesia system, and internal infrared video camera which allows visual monitoring of animals during scan acquisition. |
High Resolution MRI Scanning
Installation of a Varian 4.7T small animal scanner was completed in April of 2007. The horizontal bore imaging/spectroscopy system gives us the capability to scan rodents up to 600 grams with an in-plane resolution on the order of 50 microns. The system is also equipped with a rodent isoflurane gas anesthesia system and physiologic monitoring system that allows image gating. It has broadband capability allowing us to scan a variety of nuclei including 1H, 31P, 19F and 13C. T1 and T2 anatomical scans are possible as well as the creation of T1, T2 and T2* maps. The system is also capable of functional MRI (EPI), diffusion and diffusion tensor imaging, localized spectroscopy (STEAM and PRESS) as well as chemical-shift imaging, and perfusion imaging with Gd-based contrast agents. These specifications allow investigators to visualize and quantify a variety of moieties and processes including metabolites (NMR spectroscopy), anatomical structures, tumor morphology, blood flow/vessels, fiber pathways, drug effects, brain activity, and heart motion. In early 2008, we became one of only 5 institutions in the US to receive a commercial dynamic nuclear polarization system from GE. This system allows rapid in vivo investigation of biochemical events enhanced with carbon-13 labeled substrates at enhanced sensitivity levels. |
