If neurological and neurodegenerative diseases could be detected before the onset of severe symptoms and treated early with medication, many people could be helped. The most common neurodegenerative dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. It develops as a result of the formation of beta-amyloid oligomers and other misfolded proteins (tau) in the brain and leads to progressive memory loss. Neuroimaging scanners, particularly positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, are important in diagnosing the disease because they can visualize the misfolded proteins. However, these imaging techniques are cumbersome and expensive: a PET scanner today fills a large room and costs millions of Swiss francs. Because of these barriers, PET is often used late and infrequently, reducing the chances of early detection. Neurological centers, hospitals with specialized nuclear medicine technology and neurologists in private practice would like simpler systems to diagnose Alzheimer’s dementia reliably, cost-effectively and with little effort. This is important because the first drugs that have been shown to slow Alzheimer’s disease have been approved in the United States.
The company Positrigo recognized this problem. Initially, a prototype of a cheaper and more compact neuroimaging scanner, the BPET, was developed while the founders were working at the Institute for Particle Physics at ETH Zurich. Their goal was to develop a new technology based on state-of-the-art microchips. We wrote an article about this prototype for the 1/2021 issue of Einblick magazine. The Positrigo team, led by founders Max Ahnen and Jannis Fischer, has significantly reduced the size of the scanner system to make functional brain imaging more efficient, economical and accessible. This should also facilitate research in diagnostics and therapy monitoring and support the biomedical development of new therapies.
In winter 2020/2021, Positrigo was able to install the BPET prototype at the Nuclear Medicine Department of the University Hospital of Zurich for the ExploreBPET study and validate its functionality. Over the past few years, the BPET has been further developed by the Positrigo team into the NeuroLF scanner. Compared to its prototypes, and especially compared to other PET systems, the NeuroLF is easier to use. The detector ring of the NeuroLF scanner is easily adjustable and the patient positioning system offers good patient comfort. A goal of the NeuroLF system is to be cost effective and practical. Neurological and neurodegenerative diseases can be detected, and potential therapies can be initiated through the imaging and analysis of this scanner. A short demonstration of this scanner is available here.
The compact NeuroLF scanner is currently being tested in hospitals in Europe and soon in the United States. If Alzheimer’s therapies are to be made available to many patients worldwide in the foreseeable future, the costly care and treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia should be effectively curbed by making accurate image-based diagnosis easier and more practical.