King’s College London boosts research efforts with pair of whole body PETCT systems
King’s College London is the first centres in the UK to benefit from having two Biograph Vision Quadra PETCT systems from Siemens Healthineers. This is expected to increase quality of care for patients while also enabling King’s to conduct radiopharmaceutical, basic science and clinical research. As part of the UK’s National PET Imaging Platform (NPIP), a collaborative initiative bringing together transformational research for clinical discovery, King’s will use the whole body PETCT systems for research.
With higher sensitivity than existing technology, the PETCT scanners will provide unprecedented insights into anatomy, improving the detection, diagnosis and treatment of complex multi-organ diseases. Beyond supporting NPIP, the systems will bolster radiopharmaceutical production and tracer development research at King’s – one research tracer production can be used for twice as many scans. Patients will benefit from improved image quality and speed of examination, while a reduction in dose will enhance paediatric diagnostics and treatment.
Funding for the first installed scanner was secured from the Medical Research Council, with the system jointly managed by King’s and Imperial College London, scientific co-applicants alongside the King’s team. The second system is financed through a strategic investment by King’s.
The systems at King’s are two of four across the UK supporting NPIP, all of which are supplied by Siemens Healthineers. By facilitating access to whole body PETCT imaging for clinicians, academics and industry, NPIP is set to accelerate discoveries, leading to more advances for UK researchers and better outcomes for patients. The Biograph Vision Quadra systems enable near real-time imaging of the entire body and, with an in-depth look at how the body interacts with administered substances, tumours can be characterised allowing for more personalised and precise treatment.
“Whole body PETCT has been an area of exciting development and exploration for several years now,” explained head of the PET Imaging Centre, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Professor Alexander Hammers. “We were very proud to obtain research funding for one whole body PETCT system; having a second one on the same site available for clinical use signifies a fundamental milestone in the advancement of nuclear medicine. I am looking forward to enhancing our research activities and our clinical services with two of these innovative scanners.”
Lead picture: strategic partnerships manager Giulia Ginami, collaboration manager molecular imaging Daniel Darian, Siemens Healthineers Great Britain and Ireland head of diagnostic imaging Graham Plant, head of the PET Imaging Centre at the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences Professor Alexander Hammers and Siemens Healthineers Great Britain and Ireland MD Ghada Trotabas, with one of the Biograph Vision Quadra systems at St Thomas’ Hospital.
Read this report on the front page of the May 2025 issue of RAD Magazine.
