The CERIMED coordinated project EndoTOFPET-US, submitted in the last Health call of the 7th European Framework Program (HEALTH-FP4-2010-256984) has been approved for funding by the European Commission.

The main objective of this project is to address image-guided diagnosis and minimally invasive surgery with a miniaturized bimodal (ultrasound and PET) endoscopic probe.
The PET detector head will be a small array of 750 microns diameter heavy crystalline fibers (LuAG: Ce or similar) readout by novel ultrafast and low bias (<30V) photodetector array based on Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes.

In close proximity to the organ under study (for instance the prostate, or the pancreas) this detector head, even small, covers a large solid angle and provides therefore a high sensitivity. Background rejection will be obtained by electronic collimation on the few centimeters Region Of Interest (ROI) by challenging Time of Flight (TOF) techniques (with a FWHM coincidence timing precision of 200 ps) between the endoscopic crystal head and an outer crystal array positioned external to the patient (on the belly for prostate exams).

The aim is to improve harvesting of tumoural tissue during biopsy by combining the functional biological information of radioactive biomarkers with the morphological information obtained from ultrasound.

This project is coordinated by CERIMED with Prof. R. Laugier from the Timone University Hospital in Marseilles as project coordinator with the following participating institutes:

• Université de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille, France
• European Organization for Nuclear Research, Geneva, Switzerland
• Cantonal University hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland
• Technische Universität München, Germany
• University of Heidelberg,      Germany
• Deutsches  Elektronen- Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany
• Technical University of Delft, Holland
• University Milano Biccoca, Italy
• Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas in Lisbon, Portugal
• Surgiceye in München, Germany
• Fibercryst company in Lyon, France
• Kloe company in Montpelier, France.

This project has been approved by the European Commission with a European grant of of 5.5M€ over a period of 4 years. The kick-off meeting has been organized in Timone Hospital on January 12th 2011.

To read more on the ENDOTOFPET-US project please visit its website.

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