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Korean medical technicians have developed new imaging technology that could allow doctors to diagnose early-stage brain cancer and Alzheimer's disease at cell level and remove the diseased cells immediately.
Cho Zang-hee, the head of the Neuroscience Research Institute at Gachon University of Medicine and Science in Incheon, said Thursday his team succeeded in merging two separate images taken by positron emission tomography (PET), which takes images of a cell¡¯s molecular-level movements, and high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), by lining up the two devices and taking successive pictures of the brain.
¡°The new method provided images of even microscopic arteries and very small creases in the human brain, which could not be seen in images taken with existing MRIs,¡± Cho said. The first image was of his own brain.
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An image of a brain taken by Gachon University of Medicine and Science using groundbreaking positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI) technology./Provided by Gachon University of Medicine and Science
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PET is good at detecting molecular-level movements in cells at an early stage of disease but is hampered by low resolution. Cho¡¯s method resolves the problem by combining PET with the high-resolution MRI. Once perfected, the method could help doctors detect diseases at an early stage by sensing subtle changes in capillary vessels and DNA using PET, with the MRI providing detailed and accurate images of the ailing cells, which would then allow doctors to remove those cells.
The team used 1.5 Tesla MRI equipment, which is the standard in hospitals, but it hopes to combine 7.0 Tesla MRI, the most advanced in the world bought from Germany, with PET by 2008, Cho said. The higher the Tesla number, the higher the resolution.
The inventors of the leading imaging technologies -- X-ray, computer tomography (CT), and MRI -- have all won the Nobel Prize because their development has brought about revolutionary improvements in medical treatment. The PET-MRI method was developed under a joint research project by Germany¡¯s Siemens and Gachon Medical School, who will jointly hold the patent, since Siemens was confident that PET-MRI would be capable of creating huge added value not only in diagnosis and treatment but also in drug development. The company expects the new technology will cost some US$25 million per unit and sell at least 100-200 units worldwide.
The Neuroscience Research Institute also unveiled the 7.0 Tesla MRI Cho hopes to incorporate at the Gil Medical Center on Thursday. There are only three other such devices in the world, owned by Siemens, Harvard University and New York University. The institute is also only the world¡¯s seventh to acquire the state-of-the-art PET equipment.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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