Equipment

Radiochemistry and scanners

Development of PET radiopharmaceuticals that are utilized as biomarker assessment in cancer therapy trials in humans continues to grow through development of the PET radiochemistry laboratory employing the CTI RDS-112 11 MeV cyclotron. There continues to be excellent collaboration between the PET radiochemistry development and UPCI investigators for pre-clinical and clinical tracer development for cancer imaging. The PET Radiochemistry Laboratory produces fluorine-18, carbon-11, nitrogen-13, and oxygen-15 radionuclide compounds that are routinely produced and approved for human use including:

[15O]H2O(perfusion)
[15O]O2(oxygen metabolism)
[18F]FDG(glucose metabolism)
[18F]FLT(thymidine kinase substrate)
[18F]FMISO(hypoxia ligand)

The Presbyterian-Shadyside-Hillman Cancer Center hospital complex currently operates four PET tomographs used for human imaging studies, including two ECAT HR+ systems. The ECAT HR+ is the principal instrument used in quantitative human and non-human primate brain imaging studies, capable of acquiring 63 parallel slices over a 15.2 cm axial field-of-view. The inherent resolution of this device is approximately 4.5 mm FWHM in the axial dimension and 2.5 mm FWHM in the transaxial plane. Additionally, the HR+ features retractable septa, enabling it to acquire data in either 2D or fully-3D modes, while the PET/CT scanner is configured for full-time 3D mode. The CTI PET Systems BIOGRAPH is comprised of a Siemens Somatom EMOTION spiral CT scanner and an ECAT HR+ PET scanner (a commercial design based on the experience gained from the Pittsburgh prototype PET-CT invention) and has been replaced by an LSO Reveal dual-slice PET-CT scanner operating at the Hillman Cancer Center of the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, a division of UPMC. The forth scanner on the main UPMC campus is a GE Discovery ST PET-CT at Shadyside hospital. This scanner is primarily used for radiation therapy planning and IMRT, but its close proximity to patients at the Hillman cancer center has allowed for development and advancement of new research projects by investigators at the Shadyside campus and the Hillman cancer center. The installation of the GE Discovery ST PET-CT scanner at Shadyside hospital has been a major service accomplishment of the UPCI PET core to conduct more complex oncology PET clinical research projects.

The UPCI PET core has made additional significant advancements over the last few years in the area of resource expansion. In addition to the already existing major resources including a GE Discovery ST PET-CT at Magee Women's Hospital a GE Discovery ST PET-CT recently became operation in UPMC Monroeville in 2006, and a 64 slide GE PET-CT recently became operation at UPMC Passavant.

Finally, a mobile GE Discovery ST PET-CT unit serves several affiliated UPMC hospitals including UPMC St. Margaret and UPMC Uniontown. Most of the off-campus scanners are linked to the main PET center at UPMC for scan interpretation. On January 2, 2007 a new combined PET-CT scan reading-consultation area was opened allowing for instantaneous dual interpretation of Hillman PET-CT scans in the Hillman cancer center. This allows for greater diagnostic accuracy in interpretation and more convenient one-to-one consultations with the oncologist since the area is staffed full-time by radiologist credentialed to interpret both PET and CT scans.

Computing

The PET Facility operates an extensive state-of-the-art data processing network. Standard image analysis software has been implemented for region-of-interest definition, statistical parametric mapping (SPM) analysis, and within- and cross-modality image co-registration. The UPMC PET Facility data analysis group consists of one computer systems administrator, five data analysts, and one computer programmer. Much effort has gone into the on-site development, implementation, and optimization of specialized software for performing tracer kinetic modeling, parametric image analysis, reference-tissue modeling, statistical image analysis, and automated blood-curve generation. PET data analysis support includes PET/MR and PET/CT co-registration and the development and validation of kinetic methods for radiotracers under study.

In addition, a second major facility that has been establishment is the tumor metric analysis laboratory. Within the PET center on the 9th floor of Presbyterian hospital, the PET core has obtained space and purchased a dedicated oncology workstation (MIMVista, Cleveland, OH) to allow for routine and efficient assessment of tumor volume and total tumor metabolic index. In addition, data analysis personnel have been recruited to provide these measurements on projects which have been initiated as a result of increasing functionality of the PET core.

The laboratory has the capability of uploading and registration of the same patient over multiple time points, and then directly comparing both reductions in tumor size as well as changes in total metabolic index at baseline and at intervals during therapy, and at follow-up.

Faculty and Staff

Presently, the UPMC PET Facility comprises a dedicated full time research staff of approximately 25, including nine radiology faculty members, five chemistry staff, five data analysts, a systems administrator, computer programmer, three nuclear medicine technologists, and one nurse.

A major accomplishment of the PET core facility has been the continued growth in the number of oncology projects with the major goal of developing and evaluating PET biomarkers to assess efficacy of new cancer therapies in clinical trials. By establishing and maintaining state-of-the-art PET-CT imaging in oncology, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has increasingly engaged in collaborative interactions between UPCI clinical investigators and members of the Department of Radiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Through these efforts the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has been selected as one of eight Cancer Institutes in the U.S. to establish an imaging response assessment team (IRAT) infrastructure. Because imaging with PET is recognized as an essential modality for molecular imaging development, the PET core facility is a cornerstone of the IRAT imaging core facilities. The PET core facility is organized to complement the MRI imaging core and the conventional imaging core facility to provide a multi-modality assessment capability for UPCI investigator initiated clinical trials.

More detailed information is available here.