Calibrated Methods for Quantitative PET/CT Imaging Phase II

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant The overall goal of this Phase II STTR proposal is to develop a PET CT imaging tool that will help accelerate the development of effective cancer therapies by improving the utility of oncology trials using PET imaging The growing cost time and complexity of clinical trials are driving patient and pharmaceutical company demand for more objective efficient and accurate methods to assess the efficacy of therapeutic agents PET CT imaging has the potential to provide a quantitative and early assessment of drug response at a molecular level However PET CT use as a biomarker and response endpoint in clinical trials is limited Key factors impeding the incorporation of PET into clinical trials are the considerable variability in imaging methods across centers the inconsistency in quantitative measures arising from different sites and the variable and non optimal methods for image analysis In our Phase I work we developed calibrated quantitative analysis tools that directly support improved quantitative accuracy in clinical trials using PET CT imaging We combined the CT andapos pocket phantomandapos developed by Kitware with a PET scanner calibration process developed at the University of Washington UW that is based on National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST traceable calibration sources We also extended our automated algorithms to detect and measure the phantom and calculate key PET image characteristics The Phase I proof of concept study achieved its specific aims and in this Phase II submission we will develop and implement the studies and tools needed to translate our proof of concept results to use with human imaging for clinical trials The end goal of the phase II project is to complete all necessary work to market PET CT calibration and measurement phantoms and analysis services PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE The goal of this project is to develop a PET CT andapos pocket phantomandapos and automated analysis software for patient specific PET CT image quality characterization which can significantly improve the accuracy of measurements in clinical trials of new cancer therapies