Portable SPECT System Developed for Brain Imaging

A high-resolution, portable single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system is battery-powered and designed primarily for brain imaging. Its unique capabilities provide very high quality SPECT images wherever needed, including the clinic, intensive care unit (ICU), operation room (OR), and emergency department.

NeuroLogica Corp. (Danvers, MA, USA) announced at the 14th World Congress of Neurological Surgery in Boston, MA, USA, held August 30-September 3, 2009, receipt of 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its portable high-resolution SPECT system: inSPira HD. The device is capable of imaging any radioisotope energies between 80 keV and 200 keV for clinical applications such as epilepsy, Parkinson's, stroke, and Alzheimer's dementia. Features of the system include high resolution, convenience, portability, and versatility.

Traditional systems whose basic principles have been around since the 1960s continue to suffer from poor spatial and contrast resolution. This has led to the term "fuzzy” imaging with 5-mm to 10-mm spatial resolution in any one axis. The inSPira HD is innovative because it presents an entirely new method of SPECT detection, acquisition, and reconstruction that has been designed to approach 3-mm spatial resolution.

"The medical community demands and deserves higher spatial and contrast resolution,” said Dr. Eric M. Bailey, president and chief executive officer of NeuroLogica. "And we are pleased to provide that capability at a price point that makes sense in today's economic environment. The inSPira HD is an entirely new type of SPECT imaging and will play a key role in the treatment of neurological diseases going forward.”

Dr. Colin Timothy McDonald, NeuroLogica's chief medical officer, stated, "We are grateful for the cooperative efforts among the FDA in granting approval of our portable high resolution SPECT: inSPira HD. The system is designed to push the limits of functional imaging in the human brain. Chronic neurological diseases such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's dementia are difficult to study with traditional 3D [three-dimensional] nonfunctional neuroimaging modalities. This is because their pathophysiology involves subtle, and at times, submicroscopic disturbances of form and function.

The development of radiopharmaceuticals that can specifically target these disease processes has caused a renewed interest and enthusiasm in SPECT and PET [positron emission tomography] functional neuroimaging. NeuroLogica Corporation, along with its medical advisors, believes that the inSPira HD will prove absolutely necessary for making the qualitative and quantitative measurements necessary to determine the presence or absence of chronic neurological disease.”

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