Siemens Medical Solutions has installed the high-end PET-CT at Piramal Diagnostics (formerly Wellspring), Mumbai. The facility will offer the new Siemens HD PET technology while providing consistently sharper and clearly defined images across the entire field of view.
With HD PET-CT, Siemens Medical Solutions is redefining the quality of molecular imaging in India. The state-of-the-art HD PET-CT with Siemens patent technology was inaugurated by TKA Nair, the Principal Secretary to the Hon. Prime Minister of India.
By utilizing a proprietary reconstruction technique, HD PET can provide distortion-free images throughout the entire field of view. Its improved uniform 2 mm resolution enables physicians to clearly visualize the smallest of lesions from the centre to the edges which is a benefit unique to Siemens' HD PET. Adding high definition to PET systems also dramatically enhances contrast. The improvement in signal to noise, which effectively doubles, reveals sharper images that allow the clinician to better differentiate between healthy and suspicious tissue.
The HD PET is especially important in monitoring patients who have had surgery or therapy. The image clarity enables physicians to identify the smallest as well as the earliest recurrences of head and neck malignancies, especially in post-operative and post-radiation patients with distorted anatomy. It can provide physicians with improved delineation of early axillary lymph node metastases in primary breast cancer and nodal and chest wall recurrences in post-treatment patients referred for restaging. It is also very useful in lung cancer, especially in post-radiation therapy, post-surgery conditions associated with fibrosis, effusion and pneumonitis. HD PET is based on Siemens' TruePoint technologies, a combination of technological features and workflow solutions.
The advantages of high definition with PET imaging means improved clinical outcomes for cancer diagnosis, disease staging, treatment and post-surgery/post-radiation monitoring. In terms of detection, HD PET will improve the smallest abdominal lesions as well as small lymph node metastases including testicular tumours, and cervical and uterine malignancies. HD PET provides improved visualization of small lesions that would otherwise be difficult to image. HD PET can also improve the accuracy of radiotherapy planning because it provides superior detection of the true extent of the lesion.
According to D Ragavan, executive vice president, Siemens Medical Solutions division, cardiac and cancer related illness are two of the major diseases affecting the country. "With over one million new patients being diagnosed with cancer every year, there is a greater need to deploy all the innovative technologies to diagnose and treat patients. The global deliveries of HD PET started just a few weeks ago and we are doubly delighted by the fact that this is the first installation of HD PET in Asia", he said.