Radialis: Organ-Targeted PET Imaging for Precision Medicine

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Radialis: Organ-Targeted PET Imaging for Precision Medicine

Oct 9, 2024 | engineering and tech, health and medicine

About this episode

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technique widely used to diagnose and monitor cancer patients. Before undergoing a PET scan, a clinician injects radiotracers into a patient’s bloodstream, which accumulate in different tissues. These radiotracers emit radiation that can be detected by the PET scanner, resulting in an image that shows their distribution throughout the body. By analyzing the images, a clinician can identify problematic tissues based on differences in radiotracer distribution. For example, certain radiotracers accumulate more in cancer cells, meaning that tumors appear brighter on a PET image. Unfortunately, PET scans expose patients to potentially harmful amounts of ionizing radiation.

Consider breast cancer imaging for example. A PET breast scan may cause 10 times more radiation exposure compared to a digital mammography scan. However, digital mammography images may not reveal the presence of a tumor due to inherent limitations, leaving clinicians with incomplete information. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find ways of reducing radiation exposure during PET scans, while maintaining performance.

This is the aim of Radialis Inc – a company specializing in the development of cutting-edge PET detectors. By developing detectors with improved accuracy and sensitivity, a much lower radiotracer dosage is required to achieve high-quality images, greatly reducing patient exposure to radiation.

The company’s PET detectors are designed to visualize specific organs within the body. This design is very different from traditional detectors, which remain fixed as they scan a patient’s entire body. In contrast, the Radialis design comprises two detectors that can be adjusted and rotated to hone in on a specific organ, such as the breast, brain or prostate.

This organ-targeted design incorporating state-of-the-art sensors allows the Radialis system to achieve much higher sensitivity than traditional whole-body PET and reduce the injected radiation dose. In fact, the company’s technology has demonstrated the ability to image breast cancer with significantly less radioactivity than that needed for a standard PET scan. It has the potential to be used for scanning other organs as well.

The ability to create high-quality images of specific organs provides clinicians with a more accurate and thorough understanding of their patients’ underlying conditions. This empowers clinicians to design treatment plans that are tailored to individual patients’ needs, meaning that the company’s technology can play an integral role in precision medicine.

Since Radialis PET detectors can accurately resolve areas as small as 6 millimeters, tumors can be identified and treated early, greatly improving patient outcomes.

The technology has now received FDA clearance to be used in clinics across the USA, paving the way for low-radiation, high-resolution imaging for enhanced early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and improved patient outcomes.