About CQCI

Mission

To provide researchers, clinicians, and the people of Utah with the most advanced quantitative and molecular imaging technologies, including radiopharmaceuticals and instrumentation to enable the highest quality research and assist clinicians in diagnosing disease and monitoring therapy.

Vision

Patients participating in clinical trials and receiving state-of-the-art cancer care at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) will be provided with quantitative imaging methods and techniques to accurately stage disease and measure response to therapy. The increasing number of oncologic therapeutic strategies currently available in clinical trials has generated a need for reliable and reproducible methods for prediction or assessment of therapeutic response. The Center for Quantitative Cancer Imaging (CQCI) at HCI is responsible for assuring the imaging performed on our clinical trial patients is state of the art and of the highest quality.

History of the Center for Quantitative Cancer Imaging

HCI and the University of Utah (the U) made commitments to develop a molecular imaging program that supported the research and clinical efforts of HCI and the U. The program began with the purchase of a GE Advance PET scanner and later with the building of a cyclotron facility. In 2009 a dedicated PET imaging research facility was built housing the GE Advance PET scanner and a new research GE Discovery ST PET/CT scanner. In the spring of 2013 the GE Advance scanner was retired and a new GE Discovery PET/CT 710 time of flight scanner was installed. The current resources for molecular imaging in the CQCI are primarily oriented around capabilities in PET imaging. A complete and detailed listing of our infrastructure is provided elsewhere on this website. The state-of-the art infrastructure initially focused on the production of fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) and PET imaging of patients with cancer and for assessment of patients with dementia. Several other investigational research compounds are now available for research studies:

Current IND Imaging Agents

• IND 76843 3’-deoxy-3’-[F 18]fluorothymidine:[F-18]FLT
• IND 104035 [11C]-PIB (N-Methyl-[11C] 2-(41-methylaminophenyl)-6-hydroxybenzothiazole
• IND 109760 18F-39-F-6-OH-BTA1 also known as 18FGE067 (Flutemetamol) or 18F-PIB
• IND 111064 1H-1-(3-[18F]-fluoro-2-hydroxy-propyl)-2-nitro-imidazole [18F]-fluoromisonidazole [18F]FMISO, FMISO
• IND 113183 11C-Acetate or [C-11] Sodium Acetate
• IND 113529 H215O ([O-15] Water)
• IND 113858 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG)
• IND 136875 [18F] Fluciclovine

In the summer of 2005, John M. Hoffman, MD, was recruited to be the director of the Molecular Imaging Program. The program has grown and expanded to encompass all aspects of quantitative cancer imaging. In the summer of 2013, Jeffrey Yap, PhD, was recruited as the associate director of the center to expand efforts in tumor metrics for patients on clinical trials and expansion of preclinical imaging.

The program was renamed as the Center for Quantitative Cancer Imaging in the summer of 2013 to more appropriately reflect the broad efforts of imaging taking place within the center and at HCI. View the CQCI organizational chart.