Equipment

EQUIPMENT

The Nuclear Medicine Service is provided with the following technological equipment

Gamma CT scan integrated chamber Symbia (Siemens)

Two-headed Gamma chambers, variable geometry, integrated with two-layer CT scan system, mainly used for scintigraphic study of:
– myocardium
– osteo-articular apparatus
– acute infections (autologous labeled leukocytes)
– thyroid
– Iodine-131 (hyperthyroidism therapy and control of metabolic radiotherapy).
It is equipped with the Automatic Collimator Changer (ACC) system, which ensures the motorized repositioning of collimator on change device of this latter, thus eliminating the need of cart for collimators and offering a storage area under patient’s cot for low and medium energy collimators.
Thanks to this a reduced space to install the machine and greater ease of use for operator are achieved.
With the daily, weekly and monthly automatic quality control (QC), the patient is aware that the QC is carried out routinely and consistently. The Automatic Quality Control (AQC) starts automatically the QC specified operations so that they are finished before the arrival of first patient. The AQC control uses shielded incorporated sources: a punctiform source for development of peak, a linear source for extrinsic propagation, and a five-slots sleeve for rotation center and multi-head recording. The process ends with a report of QC completed outcomes integrating with Siemens Remote Services.
Among the advantages:
* QC reliable, coherent, reproducible
* Performance trending
* Potential elimination of open sources leakages risk
* Reduction of operator’s exposure
It is also equipped with software for automatic body contouring.

Gamma camera E.CAM (Siemens)

Two-headed Gamma chambers, variable geometry, mainly used for scintigraphic study of:
– myocardium
– osteo-articular apparatus
– lymph nodes
– brain (suspicion of Parkinson’s syndrome)
– kidneys
– lungs
– thyroid
Its main features are:
* Automatic body contouring
* SPECT acquisition and whole body
* Wide range of collimators
* Workstation and softaware based on syngo.

PET biograph mCT (Siemens)

PET-TC with traditional acquisition ‘stop-and-go’.
The patient is virtually divided in sections of 18 cm, named “bed”. Every bed has an overlapping of 50% with others to improve spatial resolution. The average scanning time is 20-25 minutes for total body tests with F¹⁸-FDG. The PET is equipped with a three-ring system. The TC is a 64-layer model. Thanks to wide diameter of gap (78 cm), short tunnel and cot load capacity of 227 kg, this system increases patient comfort and reduces the sense of claustrophobia.
The TC system is equipped with CARE DOSE, a technology that allows to set automatically the voltage of TC depending on irradiated areas. This optimizes the contrast-to-noise ratio and permits to reduce the dose up to 60%.
This equipment is also provided with daily automatic calibration, ensuring constant performance day after day and coherence in system answer and quantitative reproducibility. This allows precision in cancer staging and follow up.
The PET/TC is integrated with syngo system, which provides essential tools to obtain reproducible, accurate and quantifiable measures in neurology, cardiology and oncologic imaging.
Thanks to the assembling of radiotherapy cot and centering laser inside room, is possible to carry out radiotherapic centerings melded to PET/TC images.

PET mCT Flow (Siemens)
PET-TC with innovative acquisition by a single and continuous movement of cot.
The test parameters as speed, image resolution and movement management, can be easily adapted to the correct dimensions of organs and regularly included in the each scanning performed for every patient.
The average time for scanning is 15 minutes for total body tests with F¹⁸-FDG.
The PET has 4 rings, which allow a wide visual field (24 cm).
The TC is a 20 layers model.
Thanks to wide diameter of gap (78 cm), short tunnel and cot load capacity of 227 kg, this system increases patient comfort and reduces the sense of claustrophobia.
The TC system is equipped with CARE DOSE, a technology that allows to set automatically the voltage of TC depending on irradiated areas. This optimizes the contrast-to-noise ratio and permits to reduce the dose up to 60%.
FlowMotion brings the features of Siemens’s CARE to next level, allowing physicians to plan the scanning of desired areas with precision and without interruptions. So, only the target tissue will be irradiated erasing totally the overscanning and TC associated dose.
This equipment is also provided with daily automatic calibration, ensuring constant performance day after day and coherence in system answer and quantitative reproducibility. This allows precision in cancer staging and follow up.
The PET/TC is integrated with syngo system, which provides essential tools to obtain reproducible, accurate and quantifiable measures in neurology, cardiology and oncologic imaging.