Hospital 57357 committed to continuously upgrading its devices and equipment to maintain the top quality care provided to its children with cancer.
Recently, the Hospital bought the chemical manufacturing machine, Chemical Synthesis Module, to be attached to the cyclotron. It produces the radioactive material required for the Pet-CT scan, that is used to diagnose cancer at its earliest formation at the cellular level. It is also used to follow up the disease progression and evaluate the extent the benefit from the treatment for the patient. Dr. Magdy Hafez, Head of the cyclotron unit, explains: to perform the PEt-CT scan, glucose is attached to the radioactive material which is injected into the body. Since the tumor cells are binging on glucose, they absorb glucose and the radioactive material attached to it. An hour later the imagery shows the areas with malignant cells.
The advantage of the new device is its ability to work for two consecutive cycles to produce the radioactive material, while the old device was capable of producing one cycle a day. The increased production will contribute to facing the increased demand besides saving time and rationalizing consumables. It will also contribute to increasing the Hospital’s income because of the ability to cater to increased surplus service cases among the adult population.