New PET scan machine at PGI to reduce waiting time

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 8

A new PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan machine at the PGIMER would reduce the waiting time of patients to nearly a fortnight.

With two PET scan machines, the PGI has not been able to cater to the huge rush of patients, resulting in a long waiting time of nearly four months.

“In order to provide relief to the patients, need for a third machine was felt that will mostly benefit cancer patients,” said Dr BR Mittal, Prof and Head, Department of Nuclear Medicine, PGIMER.

The order for nearly Rs 14-crore machine had been placed and a new building adjacent to the PET scan centre was being constructed for the machine, he said. The machine would be installed by December-end and it would start functioning within the first quarter of the next year.

“The PGI will be the first hospital in the country to have three PET scan machines. Even AIIMS, Delhi, and Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, have two machines each,” he said.

“Once the machine starts functioning, we will try to reduce the waiting period for the scan to less than a fortnight,” said Dr Mittal.

“It normally takes 30-40 minutes to conduct a scan, but it also depends on which part of the body needs to be scanned. We conduct nearly 40-50 scans everyday as it is a time-consuming process,” said Dr Mittal.

One of the major causes for the long-waiting list could be the cost of the test. The PGI charges nearly Rs 7,000 whereas the cost of the scan at private hospitals is nearly the three times.

PET scanning is mostly used in the diagnosis and assessment of cancer. However, it can be used to diagnose other conditions, including neurological and heart disease.

It is used to detect cancer, show how advanced a cancer is and see whether cancer has spread to other parts of the body.