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UCLA School Of Medicine Awarded Society Of Nuclear Medicine “Image Of The Year” For PET/CT Imaging
UCLA receives award for demonstrating significant time savings and decreased artifacts in LSO PET/CT
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Il., July 7, 2003 – During the society’s 50th annual meeting – held June 21-25, 2003 in New Orleans, LA – the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) announced that its annual “Image of the Year” distinction has been awarded to University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine researchers, including Dr. Johannes Czernin and Dr. Benjamin Halpern. The award was given to the researchers for images acquired using a positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) imager with 3D Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate (LSO) technology – a system developed by CPS Innovations, a joint venture of Siemens Medical Solutions and CTI Molecular Imaging, Inc.
Dr. Henry N. Wagner Jr., radiologist, introduced the award during the SNM meeting. “This image,” declared Wagner, ”represents a significant advance in achieving high throughput in PET scanning without sacrificing quality.” Wagner noted that while whole-body scans traditionally take up to one and a half hours, use of technology such as the 3D LSO PET/CT scanner could decrease the duration substantially, benefiting nuclear medicine professionals by improving efficiency, and benefiting patients by decreasing the time involved in preparing for and undergoing the scan.
The award-winning images were taken from a UCLA study that compared prospectively PET image quality and lesion detectability from one-, two-, three- and four-minute PET images obtained in the same patients. Czernin, director of Nuclear Medicine and chief of Ahmanson Biological Imaging Division at the UCLA School of Medicine, explained that diagnostic information was not compromised with the fast PET protocols.
“LSO-PET detector technology permits fast imaging protocols, so that scan times ranging from 7-28 minutes are feasible,” said Czernin. “In fact, we have applied these protocols to 1,200 patients of varying weight classes with an average imaging time of 13.5 minutes.”
This approach allows for considerable time savings and may decrease artifacts associated with patient motion, according to Czernin. “This brings us significant benefits in diagnostic image quality, patient comfort and overall clinical workflow,” he said.
Czernin says he is honored by the award and pleased for the recognition by the SNM of advances in PET/CT imaging technology. “It proves that key nuclear medicine experts and the Society of Nuclear Medicine are seeing the value of the latest PET/CT imaging capabilities,” he said. “We are now able do whole body imaging in a few minutes with state-of-the-art image quality. Major breakthroughs in imaging technology are enabling these achievements.”
The PET/CT scanner at UCLA is developed by the Siemens Medical Solutions Nuclear Medicine Group’s (Hoffman Estates, IL) joint venture, CPS Innovations, and employs Siemens’ unique CT and syngo™ technology. This is the third year in a row that CPS joint venture technology has contributed to images that have been given this prestigious “Image of the Year” award from the SNM. CPS Innovations is a market leader in PET products, systems and solutions.
Siemens Medical Solutions of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) with headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, is known for bringing together innovative medical technologies, healthcare information systems, management consulting, and support services, to help customers achieve tangible, sustainable, clinical and financial outcomes. Employing approximately 31,000 people worldwide and operating in more than 120 countries, Siemens Medical Solutions reported sales of 7.6 billion EUR, orders of 8.4 billion EUR and group profit of 1 billion EUR for fiscal 2002.
