QIPCM- Advanced Imaging Core Lab

IMAGING SCIENCE EXPERTISE

Theranostics requires a multidisciplinary approach. The QIPCM team consists of experienced researchers, physicists, clinical trial and regulatory experts to enable success. 

PATIENT STRATIFICATION VIA IMAGING

Imaging is increasingly being used to identify the right patients for the right clinical trial. Our team has extensive experience with centralizing and analyzing PET/CT and PET/MR images including from 68Ga-Dotatate and 18F-PSMA. 

QUALITY ASSURANCE

To enable accurate radiotherapeutic dosimetry across multiple sites and SPECT-CTs, camera sensitivity measurements need to be performed and validated. We have developed custom clinically applicable scanner validation procedures for SPECT-CT image-based dosimetry.

To ensure dosimetric quality throughout the duration of a clinical trial, ongoing calibration and image quality checks are required. We have developed techniques for these ongoing quality assurance, including standardized source for each scan that is quantitatively measured by QIPCM trial analysts, with quality control charts generated to flag any camera/scanner deviations before dosimetry is performed.

WHOLE BODY\ORGAN DOSIMETRY

For novel radiotherapeutics it is common to perform whole body dosimetry using the planar SPECT images to quantify the dose to radiation sensitive organs and tissues in the body.  This is typically performed using programs such as OLINDA, IDAC or MIRD/Dose which use ICRP89 phantom derived s-values and MIRD (Medical Internal Radiation Dose Committee of the Society of Nuclear Medicine) techniques to produce dosimetry results to more than 25 organs including brain, thyroid, lung, liver and bone marrow.

Our team can take the SPECT-CT image derived dosimetry results and combine them with the whole body planar images to produce organ level dosimetry results for your studies.

PERSONALIZED DOSIMETRY WITH IMAGING

Individualized dosimetry can be used to tailor treatment to maximize the dose to tumours while limiting dose to the organs at risk. To obtain reliable quantitative dosimetry results from serial and cyclical SPECT images there are a number of technical variables that must be controlled. Our team has developed tools and methodologies to ensure accurate dosimetric measurements from SPECT-CT data acquired across various institutions and scanners.

We have developed customized, readily adaptable software tools for personalized dose planning and patient report generation, built upon validated and regulatory compliant commercial software for organ and tumour segmentation and review.

Contact

JULIA PUBLICOVER

Director, Translational Research and Innovation, Techna, UHN

julia.publicover@rmp.uhn.ca

qipcm.com

STANDARDIZATION

QIPCM has a strong track record in standardizing imaging and analytical techniques for clinical trials utilizing both PET/CT and PET/MR. Our R&D team has developed several imaging phantoms for scanner validation and QA. We also have tools and expertise to improve lesion detection, SUV quantification, tumour staging and response tracking. Our tools cover common areas including imaging Sensitivity to detect small lesions, Partial Volume Effects to correct blurring from small volumes, and correcting Scatter Effects from high signal regions (e.g., bladder) which can affect the quantification of imaging signal.

STANDARDIZATION:

Partial volume effects

Our team has created an image derived input function (IDIF) phantom for the exploration of partial volume effects correction methods. These effects introduce errors in the quantification of small lesions, which are prevalent in PSMA-PET imaging. IDIF phantom’s compartments mimic the sizes of the aorta, common iliac, internal iliac, and common carotid arteries, as these are the most common vessels used for IDIF.

STANDARDIZATION:

Sensitivity

PSMA-PET imaging for the detection of nodes in the whole body requires high imaging sensitivity. Many lesions are sub-2mm in diameter, and our PSMA small lesion phantom was designed to help quantify PSMA PET imaging sensitivity at these scales

STANDARDIZATION:

Scatter effects.

Regions of high tracer uptake can dwarf PET signals from nearby tissue with less tracer uptake. On images it presents as signal spilling over outside of the boundary of an organ (e.g., the bladder). This issue impacts lesion quantification near the liver, kidneys, and ureters. Our team has created an automated method of removing areas of contours impacted by spillover, and designed a bladder/scatter phantom for testing and validation. The phantom consists of compartments of bladder, tumour, and muscle. The distance between bladder and tumour are adjustable, so we can observe how spillover changes with activity differences and linear distances.

Contact

JULIA PUBLICOVER

Director, Translational Research and Innovation, Techna, UHN

julia.publicover@rmp.uhn.ca

qipcm.com

Key Performance Metrics

• 71 studies hosted by QIPCM
• 22 studies with quantitative image analysis
• 175604 patient exams collected

QIPCM : Our services

QIPCM-Pipelines

Help simplify the workflow for de-identification, transfer, and centralized image collection.

Theranostics & Molecular Imaging Support

Provide support through the development of customized dosimetry tools and molecular imaging analysis.

Image Analysis & Research Support

Assist studies in quantitative image analysis as well as custom tool development.

QIPCM Radiomics

We have tools to support radiomics feature extraction, meta-data curation, and data curation.