PennPET Explorer: Human Imaging on a Whole-Body Imager

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiochemistry

Background:

• The PennPET Explorer is a prototype whole-body Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner.
• It features a 64-cm axial field of view, enabling simultaneous imaging of major body organs.
• This device offers higher sensitivity compared to existing commercial PET scanners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report initial human imaging studies on the PennPET Explorer.
• To evaluate the device's capabilities in various clinical and research scenarios.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of advanced PET imaging applications using this new technology.

Main Methods:

• Healthy subjects underwent Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) imaging on the PennPET Explorer.
• Clinical subjects with disease were imaged using 18F-FDG and 68Ga-DOTATATE.
• Research subjects were imaged with experimental radiotracers to assess diverse applications.

Main Results:

• Scanning duration or activity could be reduced without compromising image quality.
• Delayed imaging up to 10 half-lives with 18F-FDG provided biologic insights and tracked processes over time.
• The PennPET Explorer delineated disease extent better, showed comparable diagnostic quality with lower activity for 68Ga-DOTATATE, and captured noise-free input functions for kinetic modeling.

Conclusions:

• The PennPET Explorer demonstrated proof of concept for its proposed applications.
• Its long axial field of view and high sensitivity offer significant advantages for PET imaging.
• These findings support the potential of this novel PET scanner for clinical and research use.