New digital PETCT scanner, first in the UK, to speed up patient diagnoses

Following a £2million investment, European Scanning Centre Marylebone has unveiled its brand-new GE Healthcare Discovery MI Gen 2 digital PETCT scanner, which will speed up diagnoses for patients with cancer and neurological, cardiovascular or inflammatory diseases.

This state-of-the-art digital PETCT scanner, provides increased sensitivity and spatial resolution of images, allowing for more accurate detection and characterisation of small lesions. In addition, its shorter scan times increase provision in providing diagnoses for both private and NHS patients; alleviating pressure on waiting lists and reducing the amount of time NHS patients will wait for a scan.

This gold standard GE scanner, the first of its kind in the UK, boasts some of the highest quality images at a far lower radiation dose. Professor Gary Cook, professor of molecular imaging at King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospitals, says of the scanner: ‘’One of most important things is the sensitivity of this scanner, which means we can detect far more gamma rays and get a much better-quality image whilst doing the scan more quickly. It’s more comfortable for the patient and to be able to obtain good quality images with a lower injected radiation dose of the scanning agent, is an additional bonus.

‘’The better engineering and detectors on a digital scanner mean we can pick up much more of the signal from the patient making the images less grainy, less noisy and easier to interpret. This scanner simply does the job better than many other older PET scanners, primarily for oncology patients, either for detection of tumours when they first start, before and after surgery, or after other types of treatment where we can see how well the patients are responding.’’

With this major advancement in technology, ESC is able to offer next day appointments (subject to tracer availability) and rapid reporting by renowned consultants from London’s teaching hospitals.

For more information or to make a referral, please contact the team on (020) 7935 7711 or email.

Lead picture: Managing director Richard Evans leads the ribbon cutting.

This news story has been sponsored by the companies concerned and does not represent the views or opinions of RAD Magazine.