New PET/CT scan technology offered at PCH

Through its affiliation with Northern Shared Medical Services Inc. (SMS), Putnam County Hospital is now offering PET/CT scans on a regular basis. The process began Dec. 12.

The unique imaging procedure is used to diagnose and monitor the stage of certain types of disease, while complimenting the existing imaging modalities that are currently available.

PET/CT services will be available by a mobile unit at Putnam County Hospital, eliminating the need for patients to travel elsewhere to receive the state-of-the-art technology.

It is a unique imaging modality that can detect certain disease at an early stage, providing information that is incorporated into the planning and management or care. Information obtained is beneficial to physicians in determining therapy and in following patient progress.

"PET/CT increases the accuracy of diagnostic imaging and has great potential to provide useful information for patients and physicians," a hospital spokesman said.

Scans via PET/CT are utilized in oncology to determine the location and extent of tumor growth and in neurology to aid in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, dementia, stroke, brain tumors and seizures. It is used in cardiology to determine the viability of the heart.

PET/CT increases the accuracy of diagnostic imaging and has great potential to provide useful information for patients and physicians.

Each patient is administered a small amount of a short-lived radioactive material (F-18 FDG) that resembles a naturally occurring sugar used by the body. The material is detected by the PET/CT scanner and shows, in detail, the location of disease, which take up an abnormal amount.

Putnam County Hospital is happy to bring PET/CT Technology to our community with the cooperation of SMS, a pioneer in the diagnostic imaging field, always quick to provide the newest mobile imaging technology.

State-of-the-art diagnostic imaging comes at a price, one that many facilities cannot bear on their own. By allowing facilities to "share" this technology in a mobile environment, SMS makes it possible for almost any community to take advantage of these high tech solutions.

To find out more about SMS, visit www.sharedmed.com.