New imaging device operating at Professional Plaza

Loma Linda University Medical Center and Loma Linda University Radiology Medical Group, Inc., are pleased to announce that the long-awaited, state-of-the-art General Electric Discovery ST Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) unit is now operational.  The PET/CT clinic is located at the Professional Plaza, building B, suite 105 on the East Campus adjacent to the already operational 1.5T MRI system and next to the soon-to-be-installed 64-slice GE Volume CT scanner.

The combined PET/CT unit fuses the images obtained from each device and is optimized for enhancement of the PET (through attenuation correction) and subsequent anatomic localization of any PET abnormalities. The main advantages of the new device are being able to precisely locate lesions in the anatomically correct body parts and the fact that the patient gets scanned by the same machine without having to be moved or repositioned.

“This is done in the same machine, so we get perfect registration for the patient,” says Eloy Schulz, MD, professor of radiology. “We have been waiting for several years to get the machine up and running, and we are very excited that it is operational now.”

The PET portion identifies the lesions, and the CT scan locates the body part where the lesion rests. Dr. Schulz describes the PET scan as showing stars. Without the reference point provided by the CT scan fused to the PET scan, it is difficult to determine exact location.