HMN 2025: How Advanced PET approach permits simultaneous imaging of three radiotracers

For the primary time, a brand new PET imaging approach has efficiently visualized three radiotracers in a single scan, in line with findings offered on the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2025 Annual Meeting. This innovation in multiplexed PET provides the potential to ship a extra complete molecular profile of illness, enabling better precision in each analysis and therapeutic evaluation.

“The idea of multiplexed PET was reported greater than a decade in the past, however solely throughout the past 5 years have the wanted radionuclides, radiochemistry, and scientific functions come collectively to make the method very fascinating,” stated Sarah Zou, Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering at Stanford University in Stanford, California. “With the proper instruments now in place, our study utilized triplexed PET to picture three isotopes in a single session.”

Isotopes evaluated within the study included one pure positron emitter (¹⁸F in simulation and ⁶⁴Cu in experiment) and two prompt-gamma+positron emitters (¹²⁴I and ⁵⁵Co). The summary submitted in January confirmed success in simulation by resolving overlapping spheres of every isotope. Experimental measurements obtained with a 3×3 grid phantom containing mixtures of these three isotopes additionally demonstrated profitable unmixing of every particular person isotope.

The abstract is obtainable within the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Photon coincidence knowledge was sorted first by photon quantity after which by photon power to create three listmode datasets. Researchers then used measured scaling elements to get rid of isotope crosstalk over the three datasets to get better single isotope photos.

“This study demonstrates utilizing each simulations and experiments robust potential for performing multiplexed PET with three—or much more—distinct isotopes,” acknowledged Zou. “It provides a robust instrument for imaging biologically complicated illnesses like cancer that contain a number of biomarkers. By capturing this data in a single scan, we are able to present clinicians with extra detailed and exact insights, which can finally result in improved affected person outcomes.”

According to Zou, future work will concentrate on quantitative evaluation, scatter and random corrections, and validating the triplexed PET methodology with extra experimental knowledge. With focused updates to scanner {hardware}, firmware, and software program by business producers, this know-how may turn out to be clinically viable throughout the subsequent 5 years.

Provided by
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging