Advances in Nuclear Instrumentation for Molecular Imaging in Diagnosis and Therapy

Imaging of molecules synthesized with radionuclides has transformed the study of disease, preclinical development of new diagnostics, and clinical deployment of novel therapies. Ultimately, the utility of a nuclear imaging system for this application is defined by reconstructed image quality, quantitative accuracy, and the clinical interpretations which can be drawn from images. Advances in nuclear instrumentation in detection efficiency, event positioning resolution, and timing resolution continue to drive the scope of new explorations in physics, and the same is true for preclinical and clinical radionuclide imaging. Ultra-sensitive and fast positron emission tomography instrumentation and systems have redefined clinical molecular imaging sensitivity, and ongoing research in fast timing detectors and electronic readout is poised to further drive dramatic boosts in system sensitivity and reconstructed image quality. High resolution semiconductor detectors are also meeting new imaging challenges in the development of molecularly targeted alpha particle therapies by enabling longitudinal imaging and dose verification with nano-Curie radioactivity concentrations. We present the development of novel detectors and imaging systems aimed to greatly advance imaging sensitivity and reconstructed image quality for clinical diagnostics and preclinical radiotherapeutic agent development.