Elin Trägårdh

Our research

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine imaging technique that depicts the spatial distribution of metabolic or biochemical activity in the body. It is most often combined with a computed tomography (CT) to obtain anatomic images. PET-CT is the fastest growing imaging modality with increasing use in different clinical settings, mainly in oncology. It can also be used for evaluation of inflammatory/infectious diseases, cardiac diseases and dementia.

Our research covers areas from clinical validation of modern PET-CT to automatic quantification, based on artificial intelligence (AI), of images for prognostication and evaluation of treatment response. 

Aims

The overall aim is to realize the true clinical potential of PET through two different projects:

• To perform a clinical validation of modern PET-CT
• To develop and validate AI-based PET-CT imaging biomarkers as indicators of prognosis and treatment efficacy in patients with cancer.

Validated imaging biomarkers could transform future clinical care, clinical trials and drug discovery for cancer.

Strengths of the group

The group consists of physicians in Nuclear Medicine, Radiology as well as medical physicists and technologist. We have close collaborations with clinicians at Skåne University Hospital, and nuclear medicine departments at Sahlgrenska University Hospitals, Uppsala University Hospital and Odense University Hospital.

For research purpose, we have access to PET-CT studies from the clinical image archives, including clinical information from digital patient records at Skåne University Hospital. All clinical PET-CT studies from 2006, with patient permission, can be used for research purpose.

Impact

PET-CT is a well-established and increasingly used modality in modern healthcare. We hope that our research on modern PET-CT systems will lead to increased sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing different cancer diseases as well as improve patient outcome and have a favourable health economy.

Patient care will benefit from quantitative imaging biomarkers that can be used in routine patient management. The prognostic and predictive information of PET-CT imaging biomarkers can be used to select patients who will benefit from a specific drug or combination of drugs. They can also be used to identify patients who are responding to a specific therapy. The studies will be of benefit for many patients, and will also be beneficial for society.

| Research Output

Affiliations

• Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine 
• Lund University Cancer Center
• Department of Translational Medicine
• Department of Imaging and Physiology, Skåne University Hospital

Social media

• Website - Recomia
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