News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s Imaging Center unveiled its new PET-CT Scanner to the public Tuesday afternoon.
The fully-digital scanner is the only of its kind in the region. Imaging Director Amanda Bain said the scanner will provide higher-quality images that aid in the early detection of cancer.
“Especially for this set of patients,” Bain said. “They are dealing with a lot of visits, doctor visits, clinic visits, treatment visits, so having this available to them at home is huge.”
The new scanner replaces the facility’s 18-year-old analog PET/CT scanner. Bain said the purchase was approved in November 2021 and utilizes the newest technology, such as fully digital detectors with “time of flight” resolution that will increase the basic physics of the operation of the scanner.
Bain said that PET scans inject a radiopharmaceutical and the body metabolizes the drug that will show cancerous information when scanned. She said that as technology has advanced, it helps reduce the patients’ scan time and dosage of the radiopharmaceutical drug.
“These advancements will provide our patients and physicians here in the Upper Cumberland region with truly state-of-the-art diagnostic molecular imaging,” Bain said.
