Peak technology in Carmel
For the first time in Israel - a groundbreaking test was conducted at the Nuclear Medicine Institute at the Carmel Medical Center. A 4 D-CT scan was conducted for a patient with a suspected neck tumor. The test was done using a new and advanced imaging device that recently entered the Carmel SPECT - CT.
"Through the combined test, we saved the patient several tests and long months of waiting and coordination, we are here to give the best treatment and service to our patients," says Dr. Maya Mor, director of the Institute for Nuclear Medicine in Carmel.
For the first time in Israel, the team of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine of the Carmel Medical Center from the General Group, performed an integrated and complex examination on a patient with suspected adenoma in the parathyroid gland. In a normal situation, the patient needed to coordinate several separate appointments to perform several tests: a nuclear medicine test, a CT test at the X-ray institute and another ultrasound test, when the distance between the tests can reach 3 months.
Using the new SPECT-CT technology that was recently introduced to Carmel, the Institute of Nuclear Medicine team, in collaboration with the City team, performed only one test using the device and in combination with the injection of a contrast material that brought the patient the result, at one time.
The parathyroid gland scanned in the integrated test is responsible for the calcium balance in the body. The purpose of the test was to identify a nodule in the area of the gland, a nodule that can interfere and cause an imbalance in the calcium balance with a direct effect on the patient's health.
Sarah Rentzer, the chief radiologist of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine in Carmel:
Since the neck area is loaded with many blood vessels and organs, we need high-quality imaging to identify exactly where a node is located, which will help to take samples from it or for surgery, if necessary. On a technical level, the combined test that was performed turned out to be of excellent quality, which allows doctors a fast and high-quality decoding.
The test was successful also thanks to the successful collaboration between the Institute for Nuclear Medicine team and the City Institute team, Mati Schneff the chief radiologist and Avi Merenstein senior technician.
Dr. Maya Mor, the new director of the Institute for Nuclear Medicine in Carmel, explains:
At the end of the nineties, hybrid imaging technology was born. This technology makes it possible to perform two imaging tests in sequence on the same subject, using one integrated camera. Each of the tests gives a different aspect, and the combined image provides improved information, where the advantages of each device complement the disadvantages of the other. The SPECT-CT is an imaging method that combines anatomical imaging (CT) and functional imaging using nuclear medicine (SPECT) in one device.
The result: Combined (hybrid) imaging that helps to identify foci of active disease with a high level of accuracy and allows to diagnose and effectively treat a series of cancers, a series of infectious diseases, endocrinology, heart diseases and neurological diseases.
Dr. Natalia Goldberg, director of the imaging institute in Carmel, says that the new SPECT-CT machine that started working in Carmel this month has many advantages, including:
- Advanced heart mapping - with the help of Attenuation Correction performed by the CT device, a higher quality result will be obtained. It will also be possible to perform a Calcium Score test and a scan of lung fields to identify knots and other pathologies for each subject.
- Mapping to mark a sentinel gland - critical for breast cancer patients before surgery and allows higher accuracy thanks to a combination with a CT image
- Perfusion / Spect lung mapping in combination with lung CT improves the ability to determine the likelihood of pulmonary embolism.
- Finding a fever for an unknown reason - this is one of the most common reasons for referral from inpatient wards. With the help of SPECT CT, gallium mapping (GA67) can be performed without the need for mapping
- preliminary bone and the test is shorter and more accurate).
At the Nuclear Medicine Institute at the Carmel Medical Center, hundreds of tests are performed a year, tests for hospitalized patients and tests for ambulatory subjects referred from the community clinics.
The tests are performed using 3 sophisticated gamma tomographic cameras, in different fields: cardiology, oncology, endocrinology and more in a wide variety, bone mapping, heart mapping, kidney mapping, thyroid mapping and more.
Dr. Natalia Goldberg summarizes and says:
The new SPECT-CT that came to work in Carmel, provides technology whose contribution is immeasurably greater than the contribution of each imaging method separately, in which the treating doctor receives information from each device separately and tries to attach and compile the accumulated information into the complete picture of the disease. The combined imaging provides accurate, improved, available and immediate information to the attending physician, of both methods together, of course, each method has its advantages. I am sure that with the new device we will be able to provide our patients with a better quality, faster and much more professional service.
Kudos to the cutting-edge technology.
All the best to Koffan HaNlavy H. Carmel.
I had good "experiences", in the context of treating my family members who were hospitalized in various wards in Beih Carmel. I was very satisfied with the treatments and the attitude of the nurses and doctors, with the professionalism of everyone, and I will not forget to say thank you to the sanitary workers who did their work with a smile.
Good job
The State of Israel is the champion of the Western world in lack of imaging devices per capita. It's time to say enough. Enough queues and enough rejections, enough waiting and enough tears. You have to invest many millions in purchasing devices that will even stand empty.
As the saying goes - "it's better to have an imaging device turned off, than a patient whose chances are zero, and more because of the timing, the delay and the extent of the coverage."
A good start but only a start. When the day comes when the wait for an MRI appointment will be shortened to two weeks, or it will cost 500 shekels, we will know that we have reached the end of the test.
Don't glorify a belter as a key and don't glorify a single machine instead of a battalion of machines.
No word on the issue of radiation. More Ann less strong or less strong. harmful or less harmful.
My conclusion - a lot of radiation, strong and dangerous.
I'm not saying that intelligence should not be considered against benefit, but the information should be transparent to the doctors, and certainly to the patients.