Towards high sensitivity and high-resolution PET scanners: imaging-guided proton therapy and total body imaging

Quantitative imaging (i.e., providing not just an image but also the related data) guidance in proton radiation therapy to achieve and monitor the precision of planned radiation energy deposition field in-vivo (a.k.a. proton range verification) is one of the most under-invested aspects of radiation cancer treatment despite that it may dramatically enhance the treatment accuracy and lower the exposure related toxicity improving the entire outcome of cancer therapy. In this article, we briefly describe the effort of the TPPT Consortium (a collaborative effort of groups from the University of Texas and Portugal) on building a time-of-flight positron-emission-tomography (PET) scanner to be used in pre-clinical studies for proton therapy at MD Anderson Proton Center in Houston. We also discuss some related ideas towards improving and expanding the use of PET detectors, including the total body imaging.