A new Cardiac Imaging Service is now available at Medical Center Diagnostics.
Nitrogen (13N) Cardiac PET Scan represents a significant advance over the traditional cardiac stress test. (SPECT studies using 99Technesium, commonly done in hospitals and cardiology offices.)
Medical Center Diagnostics (MCD) is uniquely positioned to provide this improved service. Siemens Medical Corporation developed a nuclear pharmacy service in Covington, La. This building was constructed adjacent to Medical Center Diagnostics and has a common wall to the MCD PET scan room. At the time of construction, a pneumatic tube system was installed to facilitate rapid delivery of dose to the scan room and subsequently the patient.
For years, this nuclear pharmacy has provided the radionuclide dose used in PET (Positron Emission Tomography) imaging throughout the entire Gulf South region. The most common use of PET scan imaging is the field of oncology. Unlike X-Ray, CT, or Ultrasound anatomic technology, PET scan maps at the cellular level. Your body is essentially a hydrogen ion burning machine that is made of cells. The fuel for this machine is essentially a glucose sugar molecule. A radionuclide label is attached to a glucose molecule (fluorodeoxyglucose or commonly known as FDG) and injected into the patient. Cancer cells use this sugar at a much faster rate than do normal cells. As a consequence, the PET scan is able to identify the areas of increased tracer density which may be suggestive of certain cancer cells.
The typical FDG dose has a half-life of almost 2 hours. After being made, every 2 hours, the dose is degraded by half until it is gone. This lengthy half-life allows the dose to be transported to distant imaging facilities. Recently, newer isotopes have been approved for medical use that have very short half-life properties.
Because of the movement of the beating heart, this short half-life is critical in evaluation of blood perfusion to the heart cells. Nitrogen has a half-life of 9.8 minutes. This short half-life makes patient accessibility difficult for this advanced procedure. Time prohibits the dose from being transported to other imaging facilities. To have a Nitrogen cardiac PET scan, a patient must travel to a PET center with close proximity to a multimillion dollar cyclotron facility.
In our area, a patient may go to Atlanta, Houston, OR... COVINGTON.
Other tracers may be used for Cardiac PET. Nitrogen (13N) out performs rubidium. (82Rb)
- 13N – Ammonia advantages over 82RB PET
- Better image quality due to shorter range of positron
- Physical exercise possible
- 82Rb requires immediate infusion/acquisition during pharmacological stress
- Uncomfortable for patient
- Increased risk of motion artifacts
- 13N-Ammonia allows a short recovery prior to acquisition
- 5 minutes or to when patients near – 10% of baseline HR
- Leads to fewer motion artifacts
Where Cardiac PET scan is preferred, some institutions may choose a less quality tracer because of inaccessibility to a cyclotron site. A cyclotron is a multimillion dollar investment which is cost prohibitive to most imaging facilities, but is part of the Medical Center Diagnostics campus.
Scheduling
MCD can usually schedule your scan between 6 AM and 6 PM Monday through Friday.
We are easy to find
Located in Covington, LA, at 67250 Industry Lane, just off of Hwy 190 and south of I-12.
We can be reached at:
985-809-0000, or toll free at
866-MCD-SCAN (623-7223).
Our fax number is 985-898-3830.