Taipei City Hospital

      Chen Sumei, Head of the Nuclear Medicine Department of Taipei City Hospital’s Renai Branch, points out that positron emission tomography (PET) is one of the most effective cancer scanning and diagnosis methods; the National Health Insurance scheme has included various cancer PET examinations within the scope of benefits. However, traditional PET scanners are low in speed, with limited image resolution and have high radiation doses.

      Therefore, to improve the medical quality in Taiwan, the Branch has especially introduced the advanced PET/CT scanner. With Lutetium-based scintillator crystal, scanning can be completed within as little as 15 minutes and the whole examination is fast and comfortable. Compared with the traditional PET scanner, the examination time is reduced by over half, a blessing for those who cannot lie flat for too long.

      Chen Sumei says that the instrument, with the industry’s advanced scanning and image reconstruction technique (VUE Point FX + SharpIR) is able to increase the spatial resolution to within 2mm, to clearly present the minute cancer nidi and determine the location of the malignant tumor at an early stage for treatment.

 
      Furthermore, the injected dose of the drugs used for scanning is reduced by about 50%. Combined with a unique CT technology (ASiR), the radiation dose is also reduced. Compared with scanners without this technology, the total body irradiation dose can be affectively reduced by as much as 50%.

      Meanwhile, to create a more comfortable examination environment, an inviting and elegant examination space has especially been planned, with independent air-conditioning, heating facilities and individual spacious rest rooms to allow examinees a good rest during examination. Full-body scanning is no longer frightening and an excuse for delaying treatment.