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D I S C O V E R Y N M / C T 6 7 0 C Z T

Cost-Ef fective Upgrade Brings Advanced CZT Technology to BJH

B A R N E S - J E W I S H H O S P I T A LD I S C O V E R Y N M / C T 6 7 0 C Z T

Worldwide, healthcare is undergoing a transformation.

Advanced diagnostic and therapeutic technologies have led

to significant increases in the average life span by helping

clinicians diagnose disease earlier and initiate treatments

that are curative or improve the quality of life and life

expectancy for people with chronic disease.

As countries, health systems and payors seek to reign in

rising healthcare costs, companies such as GE Healthcare

seek solutions that enable existing customers to maximize

total cost of ownership while also delivering new solutions

and tools that build upon prior generation technology.

Across many imaging modalities, GE Healthcare provides an

upgrade path for its existing installed base. In nuclear medicine,

this capability opens the door for sites with the Discovery™

NM/CT 670 Pro (and now the recently introduced Discovery 670

DR) to upgrade to a breakthrough technology that represents

the most significant advance in SPECT technology in several

decades—Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors.

In April 2016, Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH), the adult academic

hospital affiliated with Washington University School of

Medicine in St. Louis, MO, became the first institution worldwide

to upgrade an existing Discovery NM/CT 670 Pro to a Discovery

NM/CT 670 CZT. At the time of the implementation, Barry Siegel,

MD, Professor of Radiology, Senior Vice-Chair and Division

Director of Nuclear Medicine at the Washington University’s

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR), said, “CZT is a

Cost-Ef fective Upgrade Brings Advanced CZT Technology to BJH

Figure 1. A 14-year-old patient with low back pain, 5 min acquisition 3 hours post injection. (A, B) CZT images with 100% of the counts captured during the acquisition time; (C, D) CZT images are simulated at 75% of all counts with Lister tool.

Images courtesy of Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO.

CZT Full Counts CZT 75% CountsA

B

C

D

B A R N E S - J E W I S H H O S P I T A LD I S C O V E R Y N M / C T 6 7 0 C Z T

significant change in nuclear medicine and we believe that this is an improvement to the existing NaI detector technology.

“The upgrade process went remarkably well,” Dr. Siegel explains. “Our field upgrade began on Friday afternoon and we were up and running on Monday morning, so we did not see any disruption to our department’s operation.” The site preparation is identical to that for the Discovery NM/CT 670 Pro, he adds.

Replacing a camera is not only costly, time consuming and potentially disruptive to clinical operations, but it also carries incremental expenses related to siting requirements or renovations. “By using an existing installation, it was not only the right clinical decision, but one that is also most cost effective. We now have state-of-the-art technology without the complexities of having to replace the entire system,” he adds.

The upgrade from the Discovery NM/CT 670 Pro to Discovery NM/CT 670 CZT requires a simple detector swap. The new CZT detectors are shipped preassembled. The de-installation, reinstallation and calibration of the new detectors take a total

of two working days. Further, from a technologist’s point of view, any workflow differences are minimal. While BJH started off with all the same protocols and acquisitions as on the prior system, over time, changes were introduced to benefit from the fully digital technology. So, this meant a minimal training requirement for both the technologists and physicians; more extensive training can be a challenge to a busy clinical operation that is swapping a full system.

Now, Dr. Siegel and the clinical team are able to focus on how to maximize the system’s full potential rather than worrying about the complexities of a new technology. Since April 2016, the team at BJH has been exploring ways to drive clinical excellence and research opportunities to explore areas of further dose or time reduction, simultaneous dual isotope imaging and quantification.

“We were fortunate to get the funding for an upgrade, and the simplicity and cost effectiveness of this upgrade are some of the reasons why our patients can now benefit from such a

significant technological advancement,” concludes Dr. Siegel. n

By using an existing installation, it was not only the right clinical decision, but one that is also most cost effective.

Dr. Barry Siegel““Figure 2. Discovery NM/CT 670 Pro at BJH on the

day the upgrade began.Figure 3. A new CZT detector is mounted on the nuclear medicine gantry.

Figure 4. Final result: A state-of-the art Discovery NM/CT 670 CZT following a two-day upgrade.

www.gehealthcare.com

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care.

Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost.

In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

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