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Siemens Healthcare 's hybrid system boosts productivity by 300 per cent

Since installing a hybrid PET•CT from Siemens Healthcare, Charing Cross Hospital, part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has improved its productivity by 300 per cent.

In 2008, the hospital began using a Biograph 64 TruePoint PET•CT, which combines PET and CT to show specific disease details including the metabolic and biochemical functions of the body with anatomical information. The system is used to provide detailed images, showing the stages of various cancers to ensure the best course of treatment.

Since the installation, Charing Cross Hospital is achieving greater productivity during the cancer imaging process. The imaging capacity of the Biograph 64 has been one of the benefits. The system features TrueV technology that offers increased axial coverage of the PET field of view by 33 per cent, resulting in a 70 per cent increase in Noise Equivalent Count (NEC) performance. This doubles the clinical performance or allows 50 per cent less injected dose to the patient. TruePoint technology also improves lesion detection for greater diagnostic confidence. The resulting improvement in image quality speeds up clinical decision making, thereby improving patient throughput.

“The productivity of medical imaging equipment is an important factor to consider in the decision making process and hybrid systems are ideally equipped to deliver in this area,” said Dr. Kuldip Nijran, Consultant Physicist, Nuclear Medicine at Charing Cross Hospital. “We are now scanning on average three times as many patients per day, which is a huge increase.”

“Productivity is high on the NHS agenda as Trusts look to gain maximum efficiency and utilisation from capital investment,” said Lawrence Foulsham, Product Manager for Molecular Imaging and Oncology at Siemens Healthcare. “The PET•CT at Charing Cross Hospital has done just this, unlocking cancer management performance to save time, space and costs now and over the long term.”

The recently launched Biograph mCT from Siemens Healthcare takes PET•CT productivity to a new level, as the system combines the first advanced high definition (HD•PET) platform and the world’s first Adaptive Spiral CT. These elements can be used together or standalone, so hospitals can benefit from dual imaging or traditional CT as required. Hybrid imaging devices yield numerous benefits. By siting a system that can perform two functions in one, hospitals can instantly save on the time, space and costs associated with dual installations.

Source: Siemens Healthcare