Major NIH grant accelerates translational research at Yale

Albert J. Sinusas, MD, a professor of medicine, radiology, and biomedical engineering and director of Yale Translational Research Imaging Center (Y-TRIC), has received a 1.6 M High-End Shared Instrumentation (S10) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to purchase a state-of-the-art whole body imaging system for translational research.

Benefits of the Hybrid SPECT/CT System

The VERITON CT64 is a hybrid SPECT/CT imaging system for a variety of clinical applications.

• The new system enables total body imaging and allows for either a full field of view or focused field of view single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging.
• Unlike other commercially available hybrid SPECT systems, VERITON CT64 has a 64-slice CT, required for coronary and peripheral CT angiography.
• The imaging system has a unique set of 12 digital cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detectors designed to improve image sensitivity and both spatial and energy resolution.

The new scanner is essential for quantitative imaging to improve diagnosis and therapies for patients with cancer, cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary diseases, and other conditions. The imaging system will allow Sinusas and his colleagues to develop advanced cardiac SPECT imaging technologies for several active NIH-funded projects. The team hopes to optimize methods for static, dynamic, and multi-isotope SPECT imaging.

“This award will expand the applicability of hybrid SPECT/CT imaging to further develop, evaluate, and clinically translate promising diagnostic and theranostic probes for patient applications,” said Sinusas.