US/TOF-PET endorectal probe compatible with MR, for diagnosis and staging of the prostate cancer

Prostate Cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide. Early and accurate diagnosis of PCa is crucial for effective and successful treatment. Our project aims at developing a unique, highly performing flexible geometry multi-modality imaging system for diagnosis and staging of PCa. The imager will have the form of an endorectal probe combining high-resolution (0.1 mm) ultrasound (US) with a very high-resolution Positron Emission Tomography (PET) probe (1 mm spatial resolution) with exceptional Time-of-Flight (TOF) capability (100 ps FWHM targeted) compatible with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), in coincidence with a set of external PET panels. While standard multiparametric MRI (mpMR) has drawbacks, diagnosis will be improved significantly by the introduction of PSPMA-PET as well as the simultaneous PET/MR imaging. The system will be capable of morphological visualization instantly and continuously combined with biological and metabolic activity, offering crucial improvement with respect to standard systems (detection of ∼ 2 mm lesions vs. ∼ 6 mm lesions) in spatial resolution, efficiency, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), scanning time and/or lowering injected dose.