MGH Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging 2017 | Page 9

The Radiochemistry Team and
Everything That Doesn’t Go Wrong
PET-MR, a multimodality imaging technique that
pairs the whole-body functional imaging of positron
emission tomography (PET) with the local anatomic
detail and morphological information of magnetic
resonance (MR) imaging, shows great potential for
clinical application. We still don’t know exactly how it
might slot into clinical practice, but exciting trends in its
use are beginning to emerge: for example, in oncology,
neurology and cardiology.
cially considering the number of things can go wrong
during the many different steps in the process: There
are at least ten steps between the cyclotron and the mea-
surement itself, and any of these could result in either
a production failure or a quality control failure on the
production side.
What can go wrong during the process? It would be
easier to list the things that can’t go wrong, says Judit
Sore, the radiochemistry production and quality
Investigators are working to establish the clinical role of assurance manager for the Center. And even then, she
PET-MR, testing and validating the imaging modality couldn’t think of a one of those—except, she says, the
through a range of individually designed studies and uncompromising and guaranteed quality of the final
protocols. Because PET relies on radioactive agents— contrast agent prior to injection.
called radiotracers—for image contrast, every one of
these studies involves a careful, controlled preparation The record number of doses is just one of the many
process. This is why, in the MGH Martinos Center for achievements the radiochemistry team has logged in
Biomedical Imaging, the radiochemistry team is so the past year. In addition, they have validated or revali-
indispensable.
dated three different radiotracers and are on the verge
of introducing a new blood metabolite analytical system
In 2017, the radiochemistry team successfully produced developed in collaboration with the Center’s Julie Price
320 doses of contrast agent for human MR-PET studies and Marco Loggia.
in the Center. This is a remarkable achievement, espe-
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