Dr. Richard Wassenaar
Professor
Department of Physics
Carleton University
Canada
Biography
Dr. Richard Wassenaar Adjunct Research Professor Best Theranostics Ltd à Nordion 447 March Rd Kanata ON, K2K 1X8
Research Interest
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major problem in Canada. Approximately 30000 to 40000 Canadians with CHF suffer from dyssynchronous cardiac contraction, that is, the ventricles of the heart are beating out of phase, leading to inefficient pumping. Phase analysis of SPECT blood pool imaging may potentially provide a means of quantify cardiac contraction and allow cardiologists to better manage patients. Work in our lab is focused developing phase analysis for clinical use. Challenges associated with accurate and reproducible phase analysis include fitting of the data to physiological models, sampling of the myocardial wall, and edge detection to delineate the chambers of the heart. Assessment of lung perfusion using combined SPECT/CT, including delineation of the lobes of the lung on the CT, and more accurate image co-registration techniques for fusion of the SPECT and CT images. PET research including novel tracers such as 18-F-FLT for cardiac applications, 11-C-acetate for prostate imaging, and 82-Rb for measurement of tumor perfusion.
