Real Time Minaturised in situ Blood Counting System for PET Preclinical Studies

The concept of a more individualised medical diagnosis and treatment is gaining momentum in recent years. Such an approach can offer a more sensitive and affordable quantitative examination and a more targeted treatment depending, for example, on the individual's metabolism. Large scale multidisciplinary research is currently taking place to investigate and construct appropriate devices that will enable the widespread application of this concept. Of particular interest to this work is the Positron Emission Tomography method, which allows to monitor the function and metabolism of the internal organs, something that cannot be obtained with an X-ray based tomography method. In the PET method special radioactive nuclei are inserted in large numbers into the body and due to their compatible chemical structure they can follow the metabolism inside the tissues. The radioactive nuclei spontaneously decay emitting a characteristic radiation, which can be detected and used to monitor continiously the metabolism of the organs. To obtain a quantitative results from a PET scan it is crucial to monitor the amount of radioactive nuclei that flow following the blood in the arteries. In this project we propose the development of a dedicated detection device based on technology developed for experimental nuclear physics. The proposed device aims at monitoring the concentration of radioactive nuclei in the blood in a continuous and sensitive way without requiring the extraction of blood samples. This can greatly simplify the process of monitoring the concentration of radioactive nuclei during a PET examination and enable a more personalised and precise diagnosis from a PET examination.

The proposed detector offers a simpler and more sensitive method to monitor the concentration of beta particle emitting radio isotopes in the blood. One of the main advantages is that it can be used without the need to extract the blood from the arteries, which is particularly important in preclinical studies with small animals. Given that the proposed detector development will be integrated in a lab-on-chip platform it is reasonable to claim that there would be a significant societal benefit as these platforms are aiming to revolutionise the way the diagnosis and treatment is performed through a more personalised approach. Due to the simplicity and low cost of the suggested detector device, it can become a very attractive solution to be further developed, adopted and used in collaboration with developing countries. In this way the proposed development has the potential to contribute to the UK efforts in performing research that benefits and strengthens collaboration with the developing economies around the world.