NOTE: This event is NOT open to the general public.

The PET/CT system is the latest and greatest in imaging! It tests patients at the same time, giving radiologists the ability to overlay both the diagnostic and the functional images - in order to compare them. This new "combined PET/CT" is a first at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and is now being utilized clinically for patients. It has been used for research here since last November.

This particular unit, the GEMINI TF from Philips Medical Systems, is a one-of-a-kind PET/CT instrument, utilizing advancements in "time-of-flight" technology. Joel Karp, PhD, a radiology physicist whose research team has contributed to the development of this technology for the PET/CT scanner, explains, “This GEMINI TF has significantly better timing characteristics than other commercial instruments. The 'time-of-flight' information that is recorded during the scan is used in reconstructing a higher quality image, allowing a clearer look at the glucose metabolism inside the body. This is currently the only commercial PET system that can do this. And the combination of the PET and the CT allows us to fuse the two images, thereby correlating the body’s function with the body’s anatomy.”

Karp continues, "We can precisely identify the time difference in detection of the two coincident gamma rays to within a half of a billionth of a second, giving us better localization of the site of positron annihilation which allows us to calculate a better reconstructed image. With this 'time-of-flight' technology, the ability to both quantify and detect lesions is improved compared to other instruments without this new technology.”

How It's Already Being Utilized to Benefit Patients
Laurie Loevner, MD, is a neuroradiologist who specializes in head and neck imaging. She’s already utilizing the PET/CT to look for "hot spots" in cancer patients. “PET picks up what other imaging can’t. It’s where structure and function meet; it allows radiologists to 'bridge that anatomical-functional gap.' We can use this PET/CT to check for early indications of cancer or to see if the cancer has spread. We can also look to see if a particular therapy has been successful in treating the cancer.”

A New Face at Penn: Welcome Dr. Divgi
“This PET/CT is the most advanced in the world! By utilizing the new 'time-of-flight' technology, it can record an event in time to the billionth of a second,” explains Chaitanya Divgi, MD, the new Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Molecular Imaging. “It can precisely locate events as they occur, resulting in unsurpassed technological images. Its potential is phenomenal. It expands our use of PET.”

Coming from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Divgi joined the Department of Radiology at Penn in May. Divgi, a native of India, has a clinical research focus on radioimmunotherapy and targeted therapy. He is the author of more than 80 peer reviewed journal articles and enjoys an international reputation of excellence in his field.

“This field lets me combine all of my passions - physics, chemistry and medicine. It satisfies my scientific curiosity,” Divgi adds.

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