Siemens Healthcare has launched an integrated whole-body molecular MR system with simultaneous acquisition of PET data. The solution is now available at the PET SUITE Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. The PET SUITE features state-of-the-art PET-MRI and ultra HD PET CT under one roof.

Dr Armin Bruck, managing director, Siemens Ltd  said, “At Siemens Healthcare, our mission is to innovate to advance human health and our Biograph mMR is an excellent example of living this mission. Siemens Healthcare’s innovative portfolio enables our partners to fight the most threatening diseases and also raise the quality and productivity in healthcare,”

Brought to India by the House of Diagnostics, a leading medical diagnostics chain in Delhi-NCR, the Siemens Biograph mMR is the world’s first integrated whole-body molecular MR system with simultaneous acquisition of PET data. This revolutionary system combines a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner in one single device which allows doctors, to simultaneously see the morphology of internal organs, how these are working, as well as their metabolism, all in a single image. This helps doctors to make more accurate diagnosis by not only seeing where a tumour is in the body, but also identify its behaviour. Moreover, it can also display the body reactions to medication administered to the patient.

MRI and PET are already well-established imaging techniques in medicine and have been used for a long time to answer important clinical questions. Now, the combination of both technologies in one system has revolutionized the understanding of many diseases including cancer, epilepsy, dementia and cardiac conditions.

With the simultaneous acquisition of MR and PET data, this system is designed to provide new opportunities for imaging. While MR provides exquisite morphological and functional details in human tissue, PET goes further to investigate the human body at the level of cellular activity and metabolism. This innovative system also has the potential to be a particularly valuable tool for identifying neurological, oncological and cardiac conditions of diseases and in supporting the planning of appropriate therapies. Since MRI does not emit ionizing radiation, Biograph mMR may provide an added benefit with lower-dose imaging.

The project would benefit the people of Asia, Middle East and Africa, who visit India for better treatment, apart from India itself where the incidence of cancer is on rise.

In addition, the combination of the two systems will significantly reduce the time needed for an examination compared to when two separate systems are used. In addition, the Biograph mMR solution occupies a lesser area owing to the fact that the MR and PET are combined.