GE Healthcare is showcasing a range of molecular imaging tools designed to enable treatment evaluation earlier in a patient’s care pathway, at the Arab Health expo in Dubai.

Its new range of devices include the Discovery PET/CT 710, with 128-slice imaging capabilities, and Q.Suite - a collection of capabilities designed to extend quantitative PET by generating more consistent standardised uptake value (SUV) readings - enabling clinicians to assess treatment response accurately.

During the course of cancer treatment, clinicians traditionally gauge progress by looking for physical changes in the size of a tumor, typically using computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR).

In many cases, however, metabolic changes in a tumor can be perceived earlier than physical ones, so quantitative PET can give physicians an additional, earlier way to view how well a treatment is working.

"Cancer is the third-leading cause of death in the UAE, while across the Middle East region there has been a significant increase in the number of cancer cases being reported, said Aziz Koleilat, general manager at GE Healthcare (Middle East) citing reports.

"With the region facing the challenge of rising healthcare bills, early diagnosis of diseases such as cancer will help in managing the treatment costs," he noted.

Q.Suite is designed to help improve consistency of quantitative measurements in every key area like daily quality control, scanner workflow, motion correction, reconstruction algorithms, and analysis and reporting applications, it said.

The other nuclear medicine advances from GE Healthcare include the company’s hybrid imaging platform - Discovery NM/CT 670 - which is designed to help improve workflow while offering excellent dose-management capabilities and overall image quality.

The system has been selected by 100 sites around the world, said Koleilat.– TradeArabia News Service