FACILITIES AT PENN

• History
• Facilities: Equipment

History

The PET Center at the University of Pennsylvania was one of the first in the Country. This was established in 1975 as a research facility for the study of human brain function. Since 1991, PET has been applied increasingly to clinical studies, particularly for cancer and cardiac patients. More than 2000 PET studies are performed in the PET Center each year.

Facilities: Equipment

PET Center / Cyclotron Facility

 

PET Imaging Facility (Donner3, Silverstein 3) :

The PET Imaging Facility has three scanner rooms, a control room, a computer room, hot lab and a blood lab for sampling and counting. The Philips Allegro whole-body PET scanner was installed in 2001. This is PET-only instrument with an 18-cm axial field-of-view (FOV) and 56-cm transverse FOV. The intrinsic spatial resolution is 4.8 mm. The scanner operates in 3D (no septa) utilizing a fully 3D iterative algorithm (3D-RAMLA) for image reconstruction. The GSO crystals achieve 16% energy resolution. Attenuation correction relies on a transmission scan performed in singles acquisition mode using a 137Cs point source. The Philips Gemini TF whole-body PET/CT scanner was installed in 2005. This instrument has an 18-cm axial FOV and 56-cm transverse FOV but a larger 70-cm diameter gantry aperture. The intrinsic spatial resolution is 4.8 mm, and the LYSO crystals lead to improved energy resolution of 12% and higher sensitivity. With these faster crystals we achieve a system timing resolution of 600 ps which enables time-of-flight (TOF) measurement. The TOF information along with physical data corrections (e.g. scatter, attenuation) are included in the system model of the ML-EM list-mode algorithm which is used for image reconstruction. Attenuation correction and anatomical registration are provided by the16-slice Brilliance CT scanner. The G-PET scanner is a dedicated brain scanner, which was built with assistance from ADAC-UGM and completed in 2001. This scanner utilizes GSO crystals and achieves an intrinsic spatial resolution of 3.7 mm. The gantry aperture is 30 cm. The small detector diameter of 42 cm and large axial FOV of 25 cm combined with 3D imaging leads to a high sensitivity for brain imaging. A fully 3D iterative algorithm (3D-RAMLA) with system modeling is used for image reconstruction. Attenuation correction for the brain can be performed using analytic correction (for clinical studies) or using a transmission scan performed in singles acquisition mode using a 137Cs point source (for research studies).

 

Cyclotron and radiochemistry facilty (underground Nursing Education Bldg):

The cyclotron facility was built in 1985 and is a below grade building containing about 5100 sq. ft. of space with a Japan Steel Works BC3015, 30 MeV cyclotron. The machine is capable of accelerating p, d, 3He, and 4He. Beam currents of 10-20 µA are typical with a maximum current capability of 30-40 µA. Currently we produce 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F (both as a gas and a liquid) for radiopharmaceutical production. We use protons at 22 MeV to produce 11C, 13N and most 18F-labeled tracers, and deuterons at 11 MeV for 15O, 18F-DOPA and E18F-5, (the latter two are produced from 18F gas). The facility is divided into two sections; a clinical production laboratory where 18F-FDG, [18F]-DOPA, [18F]-EF-5 and 13N compounds are produced, and a multiuse research area in which new radiopharmaceuticals for cell studies, ligand labeling, and animal studies are developed. The clinical lab currently has one general-purpose hot cell and two mini hot cells dedicated to 18FDG production. The lab has a fume hood for prep work and a laminar flow hood for aseptic assembly, QC, and product testing. Equipment within the production lab includes an integrated high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) system from Agilent and a thin-film liquid chromatography (TLC) scanner that is also tied to the Agilent software. Two GE MX Coincidence boxes are used for FDG production. All human use products are subjected to QC testing within this production facility. The production facility has a depyrogenation oven, an autoclave, secure storage areas for storage of materials to be used with human use compounds, an incubation refrigerator, a laboratory refrigerator/freezer for storage, 2 Capintec dose calibrators, and a Germanium based radiation detector for radionuclidic identification of products that is instrumented with a computer based multi-channel analyzer. The multiuse research area includes four dedicated hot cells where 18F can be remotely delivered. Two of the hot cells are for 11C work; one contains a GE MeI synthesis unit, also directly plumbed to the target and an Agilent HPLC system capable of working with a prep column for separation of product. It also has a Methyl-Triflate column. Final QC of these products is normally performed in the production lab before release of the product but can also be done using the qualified backup QC system. The research area also includes two fume hoods and bench space for preparation of compounds and work. Cold chemistry HPLC systems are available as is a multi-sample well counter. All critical equipment (ovens, autoclaves, HPLC QC stations, etc.) are under service contracts, validated and backed up by duplicate systems. Out side of the clean-room areas is another multi-sample well counter for tissue samples that are not allowed within the pharmaceutical production clean areas. We have recently added SPECT production capacity. We have a dedicated bio-safety hood for SPECT compounds, and an additional, validated HPLC/QC station for these compounds, addition refrigeration, ovens, and other equipment. We have produced 99mTc labeled Trodat and 123I labeled ADAM and IMPY. For these last two compounds a fume hood is directly adjacent to the bio-safety hood for the iodine work. SPECT and PET Compounds have separate equipment and waste streams.

 

 

Last Revision: April 02, 2008

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