First Cardiac Gamma Camera in CEE
Guest post by Jerzy Masiakowski, NM & PET Technology Leader, Eastern Europe, GE Healthcare
At the end of 2011 GEMS Polska sold a new generation dedicated cardiac gamma camera, the Discovery NM530c, to the Military Institute of Medicine (WIM) in Warsaw, the biggest military hospital in Poland and one of the most prestigious healthcare institutions in Warsaw. This is the first Discovery NM530c not only in Poland but also in the 19 countries of the Central and Eastern European region.
On February 9th WIM together with GE Healthcare held a press conference about this purchase which attracted considerable attention from major Polish media. There were 50 guests including over 30 journalists from various media and seven cameramen and photographers. The venue was the Department of Nuclear Medicine of WIM.
Press conference in Warsaw at Military Institute of Medicine - Jerzy Masiakowski (GE Healthcare), Grzegorz Gielerak (Military Institute of Medicine), Eugeniusz Dziuk (Military Institute of Medicine).
Discovery NM530c is a revolutionary dedicated cardiac gamma camera that utilizes Alcyone technology. It is based on a new CZT (cadmium-zinc telluride) technology, which is a revolutionary step forward in nuclear medicine over last 50 years. CZT is a solid state, digital detector that directly converts high-energy gamma rays into electrical signals, unlike the previous analogue detector which is still utilized in the majority of cameras built with scintillating crystal (NaI) and photomultipliers (a vacuum tube). The biggest advantage of the new CZT detector is the four times higher sensitivity of CZT versus the analogue one, and its much higher spatial resolution and energy resolution. Translating this into benefits for the physician and the patient it means a lower dose or reduced scan time while maintaining image quality and diagnostic value.
With the CZT based Discovery NM 530c with Alcyone technology, cardiac MPI studies can be reduced to 3-5 minutes, or the injected dose lowered up to four times.
Presentation of cardiac gamma camera Discovery NM530c
News footage of the event was shown in eight nationwide television news broadcasts (public TVP1, TVP2, TVPinfo and commercial Polsat News).
This is an indication of GE Healthcare’s technology leadership in Molecular Imaging which we hope will help us to continue growing our business in Poland and Eastern Europe. All WIM representatives emphasized the cost effectiveness of the new technology.
