Australia develops a device that scans the entire body in one minute

Positron Emission Tomography, combined with Computed Tomography (PET/CT), is considered an advanced medical diagnostic technology, as it allows for the detection of functional activity within body tissues, in addition to showing their anatomical structure. Traditional devices usually require capturing several sequential images to cover the area from the head to the thighs, due to their limited field of view.

In contrast, the new technology relies on a Long Axial Field of View (LA-FOV) system, which allows for imaging a larger area of the body in a single shot, and also helps in collecting more signals from the radiopharmaceutical used in the examination.

The two systems were tested at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia, with the participation of 24 patients, where two physicians evaluated the images without knowing which device was used. The results showed that images captured in one minute received scores ranging between 4.5 and 5 in diagnostic quality assessment, compared to 3.9 for the traditional device.

Physicist Cameron Payne stated that reducing data acquisition time by 90% did not prevent obtaining higher quality images compared to the traditional methods currently in use.

It is expected that this technology will contribute to making examinations easier and more comfortable, especially for patients who suffer from pain or find it difficult to remain still for long periods. It may also allow for a greater number of examinations to be performed, with the potential to reduce the dose of the radiopharmaceutical used in imaging in the future.