Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that uses radioactivity properties for medical purposes. Radioactive elements, or radionuclides, have the particularity of emitting different types of radiation. These radiations pass through organs differently depending on their density. This property is used to observe organs during their functioning, thus allowing the study, diagnosis, and monitoring of many diseases. Nuclear medicine, providing 2 and now 3-dimension images, is complementary to radiology, ultrasound and MRI.
Biograph TM HORIZON PET/CT
A reference in PET/CT imaging!
The Biograph™ Horizon from Siemens Healthineers, with its 70 cm aperture diameter, 130 cm tunnel length, and a supported weight of up to 227 kg, offers the flexibility to meet a wide variety of clinical indications while introducing new efficiencies. Designed with technologies that set the standard in PET/CT, the Biograph Horizon offers top-notch performance, as having accurate information increases the chances of making an early diagnosis and proposing an effective treatment and a more definitive treatment strategy, thus improving the patient’s prospects for recovery.
Offering the advantage of integrating functionalities for routine task automation, the Biograph Horizon allows examinations based on predefined protocols which contribute to standardizing workflows.
The Biograph Horizon uses commercially available PET tracers to address a broader range of oncology, neurology and cardiac indications. With premium LSO-based detectors and Time-of-Flight technology, you can go beyond the capabilities of BGO-based PET/CT scanners for high count-rate applications.
Its broad range of features expands our clinical capabilities and provides excellent lesion detectability, spatial resolution and quantification accuracy that enable high-level care to be delivered to more patients.
GAMMA camera SYMBIA Evo Excel
Small in size, but big in performance, the Symbia Evoâ„¢ Excel system combines high-performance SPECT technology in a compact device. It represents real added value for medical imaging departments.
Equipped with high-definition detector technology, the Symbia Evo system offers remarkable image quality for accurate lesion detection and characterization. The device, therefore, reduces the necessity for additional examinations. Thanks to a 30%-wider tunnel (101.1 x 78.2 cm tunnel opening) and shorter tunnel length (134.1 cm) than previous generation Siemens Healthineers systems, it also improves the experience of bariatric or claustrophobic patients.
One of its advantages is Symbia 3D iterative reconstruction (Flash 3D), whereby the collimator spatial resolution is modeled to maintain the precise shape of the lesion. As a result, images are reconstructed with more counts in the correct volume, increasing image contrast. When compared to traditional reconstruction methods, Flash 3D offers up to 24%2 higher resolution to support physicians in both lesion detection and characterization.
Good to know!
Gamma camera
Scintigraphy
It is carried out in a nuclear medicine hospital department, in several stages:
- A small quantity of a radioactive product called ‘‘a tracer’’ (or radiopharmaceutical product) is injected into the patient’s vein. The tracer which is of different natures, depending on the organ to be visualized, is very low-dose and harmless to the patient's health.
- The tracer binds to the organ’s structures and emits signals (Gamma rays). These are analyzed using a specific device (Gamma camera), placed in front of the area to be studied.
- The camera records the concentration of the radioactive tracer in the different parts of the organ concerned. The radioactivity present in the body is then visualized, on the computer screen coupled to the camera, in the form of scintillating points.
SPECT/CT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography)
On some imaging devices, the gamma camera is attached to a support that rotates around the patient’s body (Tomography). This system enables the record of cross-sectional multiview images of the organ studied: this is Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography/Computed Tomography, which is mainly indicated for exploring the heart, brain, lungs and skeleton.
Good to know!
Nuclear medicine
What is nuclear medicine?
Nuclear medicine involves the administration, into a patient’s body, of small and safe amounts of radiopharmaceuticals, which are compounds containing radioactive material that can be used for diagnosis and treatment.
The nuclear medicine physician is the medical specialist who has the proper medical and scientific knowledge to safely use open sources of radioactive material for such purposes.
Modern nuclear medicine plays an essential role in achieving personalized (or precision) medicine, therefore allowing the selection of specific treatment, appropriate to individual patients’ condition or predisposition towards a disease.
It can therefore address risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment monitoring and radionuclide therapy related to the unique characteristics of the individual, aiming to enhance public health and patients’ quality of life.
