IHS opens new GE Discovery ST PET/CT system at Laurel imaging facility

Imaging Healthcare Specialists (IHS) is proud to announce the opening of a new GE Discovery ST PET/CT system at its Laurel imaging facility in Hillcrest.  With the opening of this new scanner, IHS now offers state-of-art PET/CT imaging at two locations, in Hillcrest and in Encinitas. This system integrates a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner with a multi-slice Computed Tomography (CT) scanner and is capable of 2D and 3D imaging with a larger bore for all patient studies or sizes. This Discovery ST system provides physicians with more sensitivity, speed, resolution, and diagnostic confidence when detecting cancer and other medial conditions.

The "ST" in Discovery ST stands for "See and Treat," which is what this new system allows physicians to do. Built from the ground up with Six Sigma methodology, the Discovery ST assists physicians in seeing the disease and planning radiation therapy treatment. The new Discovery ST system will shorten scan times and less time on the table means faster results and greater patient comfort. With the device, physicians at Imaging Healthcare Specialists are able to encounter better image quality and greater confidence in image interpretation. It allows physicians to not only 'see' the disease, but to begin to 'treat' it.

GE's Discovery ST combines the fastest and most sophisticated computed tomography (CT) technology with the most advanced Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technology - all in a single exam. Since most types of cancer have greater metabolic activity than normal tissue, the PET portion of the exam detects those areas of high metabolic activity in cancer tissue. The PET images are then fused with the CT images which provides for precise anatomic localization of the increased metabolic activity.

Mark Schechter, MD, lead PET/CT physician for Imaging Healthcare Specialists states that "PET/CT imaging has fundamentally changed how medical and surgical oncologists determine the best form of treatment in children and adults. PET/CT as the unique capability to detect abnormal tumor metabolic activity in tissue long before any anatomic change can be detected in that tissue by conventional CT or MRI Imaging. Because of that unique ability, PET/CT is the most accurate and sensitive method of detecting distant metastatic disease and in monitoring response to therapy."

Integrating the Discovery ST into Imaging Healthcare Specialists' practice is another example of the company's commitment to innovation and technology for early disease detection supporting physicians in improved diagnosis and treatment.  With its larger bore size (70 cm) and shorter tunnel length (100 cm), physicians have more flexibility in positioning larger patients and for better radiation therapy planning, and helps claustrophobic patients.