The University Hospital of Leuven (UZ Leuven) has become the first medical facility globally to deploy a new PET scanner designed to detect brain disorders at their earliest stages. The NeuroExplorer PET-scanner, installed at UZ Leuven and managed by KU Leuven Research and Development, uses low-dose radioactive tracers to capture biological signals in the brain. Its resolution is up to 20 times sharper than standard PET scanners, allowing doctors to observe brain activity in living patients that previously required post-mortem analysis. A side-by-side comparison of images from conventional PET scans and the NeuroExplorer reveals stark differences, with the latter capturing detailed details such as the structure of the brainstem and minute changes in small nuclei. This capability is supported by imaging studies conducted at UZ Leuven, which have been shared in research publications to demonstrate the scanner’s potential for clinical and scientific applications.
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Early signs of diseases like ALS, Parkinson’s, and dementia can now be identified years before symptoms appear. The scanner’s precision enables observation of tiny brain nuclei and the brainstem, areas inaccessible to other imaging techniques. This capability offers researchers a chance to study biomarkers—such as specific proteins linked to neurodegeneration—without invasive procedures. The device’s ability to visualize the brainstem and spinal cord connections is particularly transformative for conditions like ALS, where degeneration begins in motor neurons and spreads to other regions. In Parkinson’s and dementia, it allows for the tracking of early disruptions in neural pathways responsible for movement, cognition, and emotional regulation, which are often imperceptible with conventional imaging modalities.
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“The resolution difference is like a short-sighted person putting on glasses for the first time,” said Prof. Koen Van Laere, head of nuclear medicine at UZ Leuven. He noted the device can examine brain regions tied to movement, memory, and mood. For ALS patients, it reveals damage to spinal cord connections. In Parkinson’s and dementia, it tracks early changes in brain circuits involved in cognition and motor control.
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The scanner also aids drug development by showing how medications reach their targets in the brain. The device’s role in non-invasive drug monitoring is particularly significant for neurodegenerative diseases, where traditional methods of assessing treatment efficacy have been limited by the inability to observe drug interactions in living brain tissue.