A new state-of-the-art static PET/CT scanner that has been installed in Poole Hospital is the first in the country.
The purpose-built facility, next to the hospital’s nuclear medicine department, replaces a mobile unit which visited each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
It’s the first static scanner in Dorset, and the first of its kind in the country. The scanner provides the most detailed imaging ever, using lower doses of radiation to make it safer for patients. It offers hybrid diagnostic imaging – a combination of PET and CT images, while the unit’s layout is far more spacious and comfortable for patients than the mobile facility was.
It will mainly be used to image and stage cancers, helping to identify changes in size and location as well as indicating how effective treatment is. It also allows greater scope than the mobile unit, meaning children and inpatients can now be scanned for the first time, as well as being put to use in research studies.
“This is a fantastic new facility, and it’s great to know that patients in the county will be benefitting from the state-of-the-art imaging now possible here,” said Dr Kat Dixon, consultant clinical scientist and head of nuclear medicine at Poole Hospital.
“The differences between the mobile and static facilities are enormous, and I am confident patients will really appreciate the greatly improved environment, space and comfort.”
The scanner’s arrival has been made possible thanks to a £500,000 donation from the Poole Hospital Cancer Treatment Trust charity, and forms part of a national agreement between Alliance Medical and NHS England to provide more static scanners across the country.
