Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have received a five-year, $6.2 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, to build a portable, high-resolution PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner which can detect the earliest stages of disease. Alzheimer’s disease.
Unlike current models, this PET scanner will stand upright, allowing a patient to sit in a chair that rides with the device, greatly improving portability and accessibility. “We can move it to medical centers that may not have advanced brain imaging, allowing us to provide the highest level of care to more diverse populations,” says Dr. Amir H. Goldan, who was recruited to Weill Cornell Medicine as an associate professor of electrical engineering in radiology.
When a PET scan is performed, a radioactive tracer is injected into the bloodstream, which is absorbed by the targeted tissue and emits a signal that the PET scanner detects. This is then translated into an image. However, current scanners have poor spatial resolution that limits image quality and cannot provide reliable quantitative information about biomarkers such as amyloid plaques and tau tangles, protein clumps found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Detecting the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease
The grant follows a proof-of-concept study in which Dr. Goldan and his colleagues developed a PET scanner with the world’s highest resolution. This scanner, called Prism-PET, can detect ‘hotspots’ or areas of elevated concentrations of radioactive tracer less than 1mm in diameter when tested in brain phantoms, which are objects that simulate human tissue. Commercially available PET scanners produce significantly less detailed images.
For this new grant, Dr. Goldan collaborate with Dr. Gloria Chiang, associate professor of clinical radiology and director of the Brain Health Imaging Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine, to use Prism-PET to detect tau tangles in the transentorhinal cortex, a network hub for memory, navigation and the perception of time.
This is the earliest place where telltale tangles suggestive of Alzheimer’s disease develop, even before symptoms such as mild cognitive impairment appear.
The transentorhinal cortex is only a few millimeters in size and can be incredibly difficult to image with conventional PET scanners, even with highly specific tau PET tracers.”
Dr. Gloria Chiang, associate professor of clinical radiology and director of the Brain Health Imaging Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine
The scientists also want to refine motion compensation to reduce blur on PET images due to patient movement.
Dr. Goldan also works with Dr. Jinyi Qi, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of California, Davis and co-principal investigator of the grant, and an advanced medical imaging systems company.
Early detection can mean earlier treatments
With the 2023 FDA approval of lecanemab, a monoclonal antibody that targets amyloid plaque and the only treatment shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, demand for PET imaging has skyrocketed. “To receive the therapy, you must first undergo brain scans – a portable PET brain scanner will help meet this demand,” said Dr. Goldan.
The scanner has such a small footprint that even community hospitals and other healthcare facilities do not require a dedicated space for PET brain imaging. Another option to meet demand is to use the scanner in a truck as a mobile PET imaging unit that can travel where needed, such as to areas with little coverage.
“Our overall goal is twofold: to have the best performing brain PET scanner available, while also addressing its accessibility and portability to serve the community,” said Dr. Goldan. “The earlier you can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, the more likely the therapy is to be effective.”