A European Premiere in Geneva
In the course of this month, something extraordinary is happening in the Geneva region: We are currently putting together in a warehouse near Lausanne the world’s first integrated whole body PET/MR scanner outside the U.S. That’s how it will look like:
MRI scans provide exquisite structural detail but little functional information, while PET scans – which follow a radioactive tracer in the body – can show body processes but not structures. Combining the two types of scan in a single machine is quite difficult from a technological point of view, for various reasons. Philips is the first company to launch a whole body PET/MR scanner with an integrated soft- and hardware platform.
The ‘Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG)’ will be one of two reference sites with such a state-of-the-art PET/MR scanner. Also very unique is the assembling of the new system: A special container – a so-called module – has been constructed. This container will weight approximately 40 tons the day it will be transported from the warehouse in Denges to its final destination in Geneva. This module-based construction is a new way of medical installations; it offers a great deal of flexibility afterwards. Once the medical device has to be replaced, the module will just be taken out of the hosting building and exchanged by a new module. The following movie is illustrating this:
To give you some impressions on how the systems currently looks and to document the progress of the project pls. have a look at some pictures on our flickr website, here: Installation PET/MR.
Of course, we will keep you updated here about the development of the project.
Raphael Wermuth
