Scanners
ECAT HR+
BIOGRAPH PET/CT
microPET P4

Radiochemistry Facilities
Cyclotron
Radiotracers

Computer Resources
Computers & Data Analysis

Scanners. There are four scanners within the facility.

The Siemens/CTI ECAT HR+ scanner has bismuth germanate (BGO) detectors, a ring diameter of about 83 cm, transaxial resolution of ~ 4.5 mm FWHM, and acquires 63 parallel slices over a 15.2 cm axial field-of-view with retractable septa that enable 2D or fully-3D data acquisition. One HR+ scanner has been operational since September 1996 and is principally used for brain imaging. A second HR+ will be dedicated to oncology imaging studies in the summer of 2003.

The first commercial CPS/CTI Siemens BIOGRAPH PET/CT scanner was installed August 2001 to replace the prototype PET/CT that had been in operation in the facility since 1998. The BIOGRAPH combines an ECAT HR+ PET scanner and a Siemens Somatom EMOTION spiral CT scanner.

The Concorde microPET P4 scanner has lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) detectors, a port diameter of ~ 22 cm, transaxial resolution of ~2.0 mm, and acquires 63 parallel slices over a 8 cm axial field-of-view. The microPET is located within the micro-imaging laboratory which is also equipped with a micro x-ray CT scanner (microCT by ImTek, Inc.) and in vivo microdialysis equipment.

Radiochemistry Facilities. The UPMC Radiochemistry Laboratory produces radioisotopes using a CTI RDS-112 11 MeV cyclotron. This cyclotron is an 11 MeV negative hydrogen ion (H-) accelerator capable of producing a 50 uA external beam current as well as 70 uA of total beam current with dual-bombardment on two targets simultaneously. Four beam extraction ports are provided to mount four different targets: Fluorine-18, carbon-11, nitrogen-13, and oxygen-15.

Fifteen compounds are available for human use that allow the study of blood flow and metabolism, neuroreceptor and transporter binding, amyloid plaque deposition and enzyme activity. About 100 other compounds have been radiolabeled and are available for other research including [C-11]acetate, [F-18]fallypride, [C-11]MDL 100907, [C-11]DASB, and [F-18]FAU. Modules for oxygen-15-labeled gases (oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide) are in use. A Victoreen gas delivery system provides oxygen-15-labeled gases via a remotely operated inhalation system connected to the PET scanning rooms. High specific activity carbon-11-labeled carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gases are also available.

Computer Resources. A 450 sq. ft. computer laboratory is available to research investigators. Data analysis is performed on a distributed network of Sun UNIX workstations. The central UNIX file-server is a Sun Ultra-SPARC 60 (3TB external storage housed in 3 raid arrays), with a peripheral AIT tape-backup library, 4 mm tape subsystems, and both magneto-optical and DVD-R/W library systems for data archiving/retrieval. Software is available for region-of-interest definition and sampling and within- and cross-modality image co-registration. Analysis software includes routines for compartmental modeling, reference-tissue, graphical, and principal component analyses, and partial volume correction. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) software is available for functional brain mapping and voxel-based morphometry studies.