Abstract: 

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a functional and molecular imaging modality more and more in use for the staging and treatment follow-up of patients, particularly in oncology, but also in cardiology and neurology. Its very high sensitivity, at the picomolar level, allows deciphering tiny alterations of molecular processes in the trafficking between cells or even within cells, even before a disease becomes symptomatic.

This seminar will describe the basic working principle of a PET scanner and show how the emergence of new technologies, particularly in the domain of scintillating crystals, opens the way to new generation of PET scanners with improved performance. These new trends in PET imaging are coming in line with new medical challenges, in particular in the context of personalized medicine.