Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging modality allowing non-invasive in-vivo visualization of metabolic processes in our body.
The biochemical activity of our cells or organs is a very sensitive marker of our health, as the over-expression or under-expression of chemical pathways at the cellular level can reveal the existence of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer, Parkinson, etc… even before they become symptomatic.
The very high sensitivity of PET can access tiny metabolic disfunctions at the organ an even cellular level through the following mechanism:
A chemical substance involved in a specific metabolic process is injected to the patient, after having been labeled with a radioactive atom emitting two gamma rays in coincidence. The patient is surrounded by a ring of crystal detectors which will detect these gamma rays from the place where this chemical substance has been uptaken, i.e. where the metabolic process under study is in action: tumor cells, amyloid Alzheimer plaques, etc…, allowing a precise diagnostic but also a detailed monitoring of the treatment follow-up.
However, the amount of radioactive exposure, although limited, excludes presently certain categories of patients, such as pregnant women and children from getting a PET scan.
METACRYSTAL SA is proposing a revolutionary concept of metamaterial gamma-ray detector crystal with a much faster response than crystals used in today PET scanners, that will result in an up to 20-fold increase in image sensitivity and 20-fold reduction in radioactive dosage per scan.
The benefits are important for patients, with reduced radioactive dosage and reduced scan time (better comfort), for physicians with improved image quality and flexibility in operation procedures, as well as for healthcare systems with lower cost per scan, higher patient base and lower radiotracer production infrastructure costs.