An interactive preclinical PET-MR workshop with demonstrations of a new 7T integrated PET-MR multi-modality imaging system from MR Solutions and presentations from participants was held in Dijon.

The Cancer Center Georges François Leclerc (CGFL) organised the event in partnership with the UK based PET-MR supplier MR Solutions to launch a new user group in preclinical PET-MR.

The event was very well attended by around 60 users from the MRI imaging communities across the world - Europe, Asia and the United States. Many were existing PET-MR users who shared their experiences with the group.

PET-MR has proven to be highly effective in health research. The workshop focussed on key areas including the benefits of using PET and MR imaging of tumours, hearts and brains in rodents for oncology, cardiology and neurology research. There was also much discussion on the use of multimodality tracers in PET-MR and optical imaging to improve visualisation results. 

The benefits and differences between several of the latest preclinical imaging techniques was examined including simultaneous PET-MR and sequential PET-MR. This combination of options has been increasingly taken up by labs across the world as MR Solutions’ multi-modality scanners become the machines of choice.

Multi-modality imaging combines MRI for the exquisite structural and functional characterisation of tissue with the extreme sensitivity of PET imaging for metabolism and tracking of uniquely labelled cell types or cell receptors.

Professor Alexandre Cochet, head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the CGFL commented: “The development and use of advanced technologies such as preclinical PET / MRI requires a great deal of collaboration between users. This workshop has fulfilled our expectations as it has led to the formation of a new user group to advance PET-MR imaging, with support from MR Solutions.”

Fabrice Chaumard, Director of Sales and Marketing at MR Solutions added, “We have always been driven by the demands of the leading researchers and we are really grateful to The Cancer Center Georges François Leclerc for hosting this really stimulating meeting. There is no doubt that these meetings have a significant role to play in improving imaging which translates into better research.”

The CGFL and MR Solutions are partners in the Integrated Magnetic Resonance and PET Preclinical Imaging (IMAPPI) consortium which validated a first prototype of sequential PET-MRI in 2012-2014.

MR Solutions is the world technology leader in preclinical, cryogen-free MRI scanners with multi-modality capability and continues to roll out technical innovations to advance imaging capability. The company has offices in the UK, North America and Asia as well as a network of agencies across the world.

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