CT imaging facility

Computed Tomography is used in several fashions at MGH-CMIR. It is used as a stand alone device for tumor and lesion detection, angiography, and various diagnoses such as myocardial infarction and bone degeneration. It is also used in combination with Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and fluorescence (FMT) imaging modalities to provide an anatomical framework for registration with the functional data.

There are three micro-CT systems:

• The first is a part of the Siemens Inveion PET-CT system. It utilizes CCD technology that allows the highest available signal-to-noise ratio, and fiber optics that permit the highest efficiency light collection. It has 4,064 x 4,064 detectors, a FOV greater than 10 x 10 cm, a spatial resolution of 15 micron isotropic voxels, and can scan an entire mouse in less than 1 min.
• The second systems is housed within the XSPECT / XO system. It is a 50 kVp, 1.0 mA, fixed anode and air cooled x-ray tube with a 2 inch by 2 inch (48 um pitch) solid state detector (1024 x 1024 array).
• The third CT system is contained within the XPET / XO system. It has a 80 kVp, 0.6 mA, fixed anode and air cooled x-ray tube with a 4.72 inch by 4.72 inch (50 um pitch) solid state dectector (2048 x 2048 array). The later system is capable of imaging an entire mouse in less than a minute.

Publications

1. Aikawa E, Nahrendorf M, Figueiredo JL, Swirski F, Shtatland T, Kohler RH, Jaffer F, Aikawa M, Weissleder R. Osteogenesis associates with inflammation in early-stage atherosclerosis evaluated by molecular imaging in vivo. Circulation. 2007; :epub ahead of print
2. Nahrendorf M, Badea C, Hedlund LW, Figueiredo JL, Sosnovik DE, Johnson GA, Weissleder R High Resolution Imaging of Murine Myocardial Infarction With Delayed Enhancement Cine Micro-CT. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2007;292(6):H3172-8.
3. Rabin O, Manuel Perez J, Grimm J, Wojtkiewicz G, Weissleder R. An X-ray computed tomography imaging agent based on long-circulating bismuth sulphide nanoparticles. Nat Mater. 2006;5(2):118-22
4. Grimm J, Kirsch DG, Windsor SD, Kim CF, Santiago PM, Ntziachristos V, Jacks T, Weissleder R. Use of gene expression profiling to direct in vivo molecular imaging of lung cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005;102(40):14404-14409
5. Zacharakis G, Kambara H, Shih H, Ripoll J, Grimm J, Saeki Y, Weissleder R, Ntziachristos V. Volumetric tomography of fluorescent proteins through small animals in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005;102(51):18252-7
6. Kim CF, Jackson EL, Kirsch DG, Grimm J, Shaw AT, Lane K, Kissil J, Olive KP, Sweet-Cordero A, Weissleder R, Jacks T. Mouse models of human non-small-cell lung cancer: raising the bar. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2005;70:241-50