General Electric Company

Nadeem Ishaque

Peter Michael Edic

Samit Kumar Basu

Bruce Fletcher Johnson

William Robert Ross

Ileana Hancu

Faisal Ahmed Syud

Deborah Joy Walter

Mohan Mark Amaratunga

Paritosh Jayant Dhawale

Amy Casey Williams

Denyce Kramer Wicht

John McLeod

This invention relates to bifunctional detection agents useful for providing high-resolution, in vivo imaging of biochemical activity in a living organism. Methods of using these bifunctional detection agents may comprise administering them into a living organism, and then estimating the localization of the detection agent using one modality (i.e., MRI), while concurrently estimating the level of biological activity using a second modality (i.e., optical imaging). One of the bifunctional detection agents comprises a magnetic resonance component and an optical imaging component. The magnetic resonance component comprises a contrast agent that is always activated or 'on'. The optical imaging component comprises an activatable contrast agent or dye that is activated or turned 'on' only in the presence of a particular event. For example, the optical imaging component may be activated by a certain wavelength of light and (1) by the presence of a particular biochemical marker, (2) by enzyme cleavage, or (3) by a change in the temperature or pH of the surrounding medium. These bifunctional detection agents allow both anatomical and functional/metabolic information to be obtained simultaneously.

Systems and methods for high-resolution in vivo imaging of biochemical activity in a living organism

A method and apparatus for providing a configurable field of view in a non-invasive imaging system, such as a CT medical imaging system. A detector structure comprising two or more flat-panel X-ray detectors is provided such that the configurable field of view may encompass the full area of the two or more X-ray detectors or any suitable subset of the full area. The field of view may be configured based upon an acceptable field of view in conjunction with an acceptable scan speed.

Volumetric CT system and method utilizing multiple detector panels

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Clifton Park, NY, United States of America

Nadeem Ishaque