Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham restarts octreotide scans following SPECT/CT install
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB), part of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, is the first in the world to implement a Symbia Pro.specta SPECT/CT from Siemens Healthineers. Equipped with specialised clinical tools, low dose imaging and intuitive workflow, the Symbia Pro.specta is helping to expand services in the nuclear medicine department, including cardiology, neurology, oncology and orthopaedics.
This update allows the nuclear medicine department to achieve higher quality images at a low patient dose. The fully integrated SPECT/CT system modernises facilities to serve more patients. Octreotide scans have also been restarted in support of the PET service, with selective internal radiation therapy services now being conducted on the new system due to the CT facilities available.
“Features such as a small, quiet camera and the availability of audible breathing instructions help to enhance the patient experience, which is important for us as we have a lot of patients who are nervous,” commented principal clinical technologist (clinical governance lead) in nuclear medicine Laura Whitehouse. “The design has facilitated an improvement in patient access to a wide range of SPECT/CT services at the hospital, helping us to increase patient throughput.”
The Symbia Pro.specta features Tin Filter technology and CT iterative reconstruction for ultra low patient and room dose. The flexibility of the system enables staff to simply add another scan when patients identify additional pain areas.
QEHB has already reduced the time needed for cardiac scans with the new system, which is particularly useful for monitoring cardiac side effects of chemotherapy patients and improving the patient pathway. Its wider bed eases patient transfer, with additional features such as pre-recorded breathing instructions in different languages and a smaller and quieter scanning camera.
Picture: Principal clinical technologist (clinical governance lead) in nuclear medicine Laura Whitehouse, head of department and consultant clinical scientist Dr James Cullis, consultant clinical scientist and deputy head of nuclear medicine Erin Ross, principal clinical technologist (training lead) James Clarke, principal clinical technologist Yasmin Wahid, director of medical physics Professor Stuart Green, clinical scientist Lydia Ram and Siemens Healthineers GB&I business manager for molecular imaging Lawrence Foulsham.
Published on page 36 of the June 2023 issue of RAD Magazine.