美国正在研制婴儿使用的小型扫描仪

一种用于小动物的扫描设备现在用于鉴别人类婴儿的大脑疾病。

微型PET扫描在动物中使用已经有一段时间。较大型的微型PET扫描仪已经在儿童和成人中使用，但是当用于婴儿的时候并不精确。Harry Chugani博士是美国Hutzel医院的放射科医生，已经开始使用动物影像检查仪，其大小与一台小冰箱差不多，来评估只有2磅左右的婴儿大脑中的化学物质。

Chugani博士 已经在California-Los Angeles大学中开始动物实验。他现在是Michigan儿童医院PET中心的主任。

该设备最近获得了美国食品药品管理局的批准。Chugani博士得到了这些设备中的一种，从2004年下半年开始已经在30例婴儿中开始了影像检查。微型PET扫描仪已经诊断出了某些疾病，例如癫痫发作的来源，或者脑瘫症状和其它大脑疾病。他同时还希望使用这种扫描仪来评估和预测大脑疾病，并对婴儿大脑愈合有更多的了解。研究人员相信这种新型影像检查能够对婴儿大脑疾病提供新型检查与治疗。

Small Scanner for Infant Use
 
A scanning device created for use on small animals is now helping to identify brain disorders in human infants.

Micro-positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has been used for quite a while only on animals. A larger type of the micro-PET scanner has been used on children and adults but is imprecise when used on infants. Dr. Harry Chugani, a radiologist at the Hutzel Hospital (Detroit, MI, USA), has begun utilizing the animal imager, which is approximately the size of a small refrigerator, to evaluate the chemicals in infants’ brains weighing as little as two pounds.

Dr. Chugani has conducted animal studies at the University of California-Los Angeles (USA). He is now director of the PET Center at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

The device was recently approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Dr. Chugani acquired one of the devices and has used it perform imaging studies on 30 infants since late 2004. The micro-PET scanner has already identified problems such as the source of epileptic seizures or signs of cerebral palsy and other brain disorders. He also hopes to use the scanner to evaluate and predict mental illnesses and try to learn more about how infant brains heal. Researchers believe that this new imaging modality may provide insights into newer types of detection and treatment for infant brain disorders.