蓝莓视频

Scientists at Imperial College London are among a UK-wide team of experts set to lead a new national clinical imaging platform which could see patients benefit from full-body scans to develop new treatments.

罢丑别听聽will deploy total-body positron emission tomography (PET) across the UK, with two state-of-the-art total-body scanners based at hubs in Scotland and London, expected to be operational as soon as April 2024. With funding of 拢32m from the聽UK Research and Innovation聽(UKRI), NPIP aims to accelerate scientific discoveries, leading to more advances for UK researchers and better outcomes for patients.

The programme will be delivered by the聽(MDC), the聽聽(MRC) and聽and will facilitate access to the imaging platforms for clinicians, academics and industry.

Working with partners at King鈥檚 College London, Imperial researchers will co-lead the London hub, with the Universities of聽Edinburgh聽and聽Glasgow聽leading the hub in Scotland. The researchers hope the platform will enable new insights into paediatric disease, cancer, as well as detailed study of the cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Professor Eric Aboagye, from the聽Department of Surgery & Cancer聽at Imperial College London, said: 鈥淲e welcome this exciting new initiative, which we hope will greatly advance the UK鈥檚 clinical imaging research. With 40 times the sensitivity of conventional PET scans, whole-body PET will enable us to study what we couldn鈥檛 before, gaining new insights into paediatric disease, cancer screening, investigations into the brain-gut axis, whole-body vascular monitoring, cancer evolution, and cell tracking.鈥�

Professor Alexander Hammers, Head of PET Imaging Centre, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences at King鈥檚 College London, said: 鈥淭he opportunity created by this national facility will build a springboard for the UK to lead the future of nuclear medicine. Through its onsite co-creation with industry partners and King鈥檚 academics, the PET Centre at St Thomas鈥� Hospital is uniquely located to respond to this challenge and create improved healthcare outcomes for our patients.鈥�

National hubs

PET scanning is a crucial, non-invasive imaging technique that can detect the early onset of disease. With higher sensitivity than existing technology, the new total-body PET scanners will provide insights into anatomy that have never been seen before, improving our detection, diagnosis and treatment of complex, multi-organ diseases.

Current PET technology is less sensitive and requires the patient to be repositioned multiple times to achieve a full-body field of view. Total-body PET scans are quicker, exposing patients to considerably lower doses of radiation, meaning more patients, including children, can participate in clinical trials to improve researchers鈥� understanding of diseases.

The speed of total-body PET scanners means that NPIP will be able to facilitate more patient scans, enhancing the scale and impact of clinical research projects. This richer picture of human health will help us develop drugs and diagnostics more effectively and bring them to market quicker, benefiting patients and enabling the UK to unlock new opportunities to treat complex diseases like cancer and cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

George Freeman MP, Minister of State at the聽said: 鈥淎dvances in imaging and informatics pioneered here in the UK have led to a step-change in how we diagnose and treat diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, bringing hope to patients and their families. Our 拢32 million backing for this Platform will give British clinicians and researchers access to a never-before-seen breadth of data, pushing forward new innovations from drug discovery to screening, strengthening our life sciences sector, and ultimately transforming lives.鈥�

Dr Juliana Maynard, Director of Operations and Engagement for the National PET Imaging Platform and Head of Translational Imaging at聽, said: 鈥淭otal-body PET scanners can detect serious diseases with unprecedented speed and accuracy. The launch of NPIP and provision of these state-of-the-art total-body PET scanners is a testament to the UK’s expertise and strength as a life sciences superpower and the collaborative efforts of the entire UK PET community鈥�.

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Advisor to the聽and CEO of the聽蓝莓视频, said: 鈥淭his new platform represents a huge step forward for clinical research, enabling more patients to take part in clinical trials, delivering more scans, and enhancing our understanding of diseases. Ultimately this could help lead to the development of new drugs and treatments to tackle some of the biggest health challenges of our time, from cancer to dementia鈥�.

Supplied by Siemens Healthineers, the two total-body Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT scanners capture outstanding image clarity of a patient鈥檚 entire body in near real-time.

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