CTSC:CHBresources:nuclear medicine

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The Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Children’s Hospital Boston includes two clinical units, a radiopharmaceutical research unit, and a small animal imaging research lab.

The Boston Clinical Unit is dedicated to patient imaging and is located in Pavilion 2 in the main hospital complex. It is equipped to perform planar (static and dynamic) imaging, SPECT, and PET. It has full capabilities to achieve sophisticated image processing including image fusion of PET/SPECT, SPECT/MR, PET/MR, and SPECT/CT. The division has a full service radiopharmacy to handle single photon and PET radiopharmaceuticals, radionuclide therapy doses, and is used for the determination of GFR.

The Waltham Clinical Unit has one SPECT-capable gamma camera and a small radiopharmacy. All imaging is integrated into the Boston unit for centralized interpretation.

The Research Laboratory of the division is located in the Enders Pediatric Research Building and occupies approximately 1200 sq. ft. It includes a chemical laboratory and instrument room. The laboratory is equipped with 4 fume hoods suitable for use with low-level radioisotopes. The facility also includes a "hot" laboratory in the Enders sub-basement that is equipped with a fume hood for handling high activity radioisotopes and includes a Capintec hot cell equipped with Tru-Motion manipulator arms.

SPECT

SPECT cameras available for imaging with traditional gamma-emitting agents such as 123I and 99mTc.

Imaging Equipment

• 4 Siemens SPECT-capable gamma camera I
• 1 DigiRAD Single Head Portable Imaging System
• A Siemens single detector e.Cam Planar imaging system in Urodynamics

Processing Workstations

• Siemens ICON P
• Siemens Esoft Turbo P

• Mirada
• GE Xeleris
• GE Advantage

PET

The PET facility at Children’s Hospital Boston is located within the Division of Nuclear Medicine of the Department of Radiology. The PET facility is adjacent to the radiopharmacy and is equipped with two preparatory rooms for maintaining the patient during the radiopharmaceutical uptake phase as well as a dedicated bathroom and changing room specifically designed for the efficient handling of patients for PET imaging.

Imaging equipment

• 1 GE Advance NXi PET scanner dedicated for pediatric use, providing resolution of structures 8-10 mm in size. Imaging is routinely performed with 18F and 18F-FDG; other positron-emitting radionuclides such as 11C and 64Cu can be imaged as they become available. It consists of 12,096 small (4x8mm) bismuth germanate (BGO) scintillating detectors that can simultaneously image 35 tomographic slices over a 15.4 cm axial field of view. The spatial resolution of the Advance NXi is 4.9 mm. The sensitivity of the scanner is 200 and 1000 thousand counts per second per mCi per mL for 2D and 3D PET mode, respectively. Activity concentrations up to 220 kBq/mL (6 μCi/mL) can be suitably measured. Measured attenuation correction necessary for accurate quantitation is provided with the use of two rotating sources of 68Ge/68Ga.

• The PET data is reconstructed using the ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) iterative algorithm in a manner suitable for further advanced image processing including kinetic modeling, display using standard uptake values (SUV) and image registration with either MR or CT images. The PET image data can also be made readily available to other analysis workstations using either the interfile or DICOM image format. Post-processing capabilities include standard multiplanar reconstruction techniques, as well as two Hermes workstations.

Processing Workstations

• Hermes Windows Client: used to facilitate image fusion of PET imaging studies to cross-sectional imaging performed by either CT or MRI, to allow correlation of functional and anatomic data in addition to conventional planar imaging.

Division of Nuclear Medicine at Waltham

• 1 Siemens Dual Head E.Cam SPECT Imaging System with a Siemens E.Soft A/P Workstation

• Processing Workstations:
  

- Hermes Client Workstation
- Esoft Workstation (ipwal1) Processing

Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory

The radiopharmaceutical chemistry research program occupies two research laboratories in the Enders research building at Children's: a radiopharmaceutical chemistry laboratory and a "hot" laboratory. A separate cell-culture laboratory is also available.

Radiopharmaceutical chemistry laboratory

It contains four fume hoods, approximately 50 linear feet of bench space, and is set up to accommodate three postdoctoral researchers. The laboratory is equipped with various chemical instrumentation including a Bruker FTIR spectrometer, a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 40 uv-visible spectrophotometer, and a Hitachi high-performance liquid chromatograph equipped with a diode array and a gamma detector. Other smaller pieces of equipment (centrifuges, pH meters, etc.) are also available.

Hot laboratory

It is used for handling high levels of radioactivity and has a shielded fume hood that is equipped with a pair of Tru-Motion remote manipulator arms. This laboratory is also equipped with a semi-preparative HPLC system for purification of 18F-labeled compounds. In addition to our own basic science investigations, this laboratory is also used for the preparation of 18F-labeled compounds for use by CHB microPET users.