Low Cost Lu-based Scintillator Crystals for PET Scanners

用于 PET 扫描仪的低成本 Lu 基闪烁体晶体

• 批准号: 6805270
• 负责人: Wesley S. Hackenberger
• 金额: $ 23.03万
• 依托单位: TRS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-30 至 2006-05-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6805270
• 关键词: bioimaging /biomedical imaging; biomedical equipment development; ceramics; cerium; chemical synthesis; crystallization; physical state; positron emission tomography; radiopharmacology; rare earth element; scintillation cameras

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is becoming an increasingly important imaging modality particularly for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Unfortunately, PET scanners are extremely expensive instruments; so much so, that they tend to be limited to large facilities and are almost nonexistent in rural communities or developing nations. A major cost driver for PET scanners is the scintillator crystals used to detect gamma rays emitted by the radiopharmaceuticals. Recent development of lutetium (Lu) based oxide crystals for a new generation of fast, high-resolution PET systems has made the situation even worse. These crystals are very expensive to grow and could constitute as much as 30% of the cost of a PET scanner. The objective of the current proposal is to develop low cost crystal growth of Lu-based scintillators using solid state conversion of ceramic into single crystals. Ceramics are produced in high volume resulting in low production costs per cc of yielded material. However, crystal growth is a much lower volume process (especially for oxides) with high production costs. The proposed innovation uses low cost ceramic processing methods, but then in the last step, takes advantage of unique thermodynamic processes to convert the ceramic to a single crystal. Due to the much higher volume of material produced, the processing costs of solid state growth are expected to yield Lu-based scintillators at a 50% or even 70% lower cost than conventional melt growth.

描述（由申请人提供）： 正电子发射断层扫描（PET）已成为越来越重要的成像方式，特别是用于癌症诊断和治疗监测。不幸的是，宠物扫描仪是极其昂贵的乐器。如此之多，以至于它们倾向于仅限于大型设施，并且在农村社区或发展中国家几乎不存在。 PET扫描仪的主要成本驱动力是用于检测放射性药物发出的伽马射线的闪烁晶体。新一代快速，高分辨率宠物系统的最新开发卢特氏菌（LU）氧化物晶体使情况变得更糟。这些晶体的生长非常昂贵，可能占PET扫描仪成本的30％。当前建议的目的是利用将陶瓷转换为单晶的固态转化来发展基于LU的闪烁体的低成本晶体生长。陶瓷的生产大量生产，导致每cc的屈服材料生产成本低。但是，晶体生长是一个较低的量生产成本（尤其是对于氧化物）。提出的创新使用了低成本的陶瓷加工方法，但是在最后一步中，利用独特的热力学过程将陶瓷转换为单晶。由于产生的材料的数量要高得多，固态增长的加工成本预计将产生基于LU的闪烁体，比传统熔体增长低50％甚至70％。