This would make them more efficient

Feb 12, 2010 14:34 GMT  ·  By
The images labeled "gated" were taken using Chang's new tool. They are a lot clearer than the others
   The images labeled "gated" were taken using Chang's new tool. They are a lot clearer than the others

According to investigators at the Rice University, it may be that dropping some of the data collected by various imaging methods searching for tumors and cancer cells could bolster the overall efficiency of the viewing methods. This is what researchers at RU and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center are proposing, saying that they have managed to collect some remarkable readings by employing this method. This approach is especially effective in tracking down lung and thoracic tumors, the RU team adds.

The amplitude gating technique was developed by a science group led by fifth-year Rice graduate student Guoping Chang. Details of the approach appear in a January issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Chang says that the technique provides oncologists and biologists with a clearer picture of how tumors are evolving and responding to treatment, and also that it can be used in conjunction with positron emission tomography (PET) / computed tomography (CT) scanners. By combining these tools, doctors could gain a very powerful ally in their quest for keeping cancer in check.

“Patients might have lesions located in organs that move due to respiratory motion. When patients breathe, these lesions will be blurred,” Osama Mawlawi, M.D. Anderson Department of Imaging Physics associate professor, and the technical advisor for Chang's team, explains. He is also an RU adjunct lecturer in electrical and computer engineering. One of the main reasons why this happens is that PET scanners need at least three minutes to capture an image, which means that breathing from the patients blurs the images, and makes the interpreters' work very difficult.

“Being able to image with good resolution means you might be able to catch a small tumor very early. It's a good piece of work,” RU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering academic adviser, Professor John Clark says. “It can save people's lives. That's what I want,” Chang adds. The journal entry shows that studies conducted on 13 volunteers revealed better results than possible without Chang's new, amplitude gating technique. This research was supported in part by a grant from GE Healthcare.