Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center to launch new molecular imaging program
New cyclotron to boost personalized clinical and research services for Banner hospitals and Banner Alzheimer’s Institute
 Banner Good Samaritan's existing cyclotron has been creating short-life isotopes for nuclear medicine and PET scans. The new cyclotron is part of a new molecular imaging lab for the hospital and the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. |
The purchase of a new cyclotron and the development of molecular imaging laboratory space is a significant step in the hospital’s march toward personalized medicine. A cyclotron produces radioisotopes used to make imaging tracers that are injected into patients or volunteers prior to undergoing a positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
Unlike X-Rays and computerized axial tomography (CT) scans that allow physicians to see the structure of organs, tissues and bones in the body, PET scans measure the chemical processes that take place in organs and tissue, allowing physicians to determine if they are healthy or diseased. The results allow physicians to make diagnoses, develop treatment plans and assess the effectiveness of treatments in patients.
Banner Good Samaritan’s Molecular Imaging Laboratory, which includes the cyclotron and the imaging tracer production facility, supports all of Banner’s Arizona hospitals, other in-patient facilities in the state and outpatient referrals from Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado and elsewhere.
Doctors at Banner Good Samaritan use PET scans for a variety of clinical needs such as determining the growth rate of cancerous tumors, measuring blood flow in the heart and making certain neurological diagnoses.
Researchers at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute use PET scans in studies designed to measure brain activity in people with a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease. The Institute recently started to incorporate two new PET tracers that measure amyloid plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, into multiple research projects.
“The addition of a new cyclotron will mean that physicians at Banner hospitals and throughout the Valley will have the ability to better understand our patients’ unique disease processes and treat them with medicine that is specifically relevant to their needs,” said Calvin Lutrin, M.D., medical director of the Banner Good Samaritan PET Center. “We will also have an earlier understanding of whether the treatments we are delivering are effective.”
The PET research program at Banner is internationally recognized for its scientific contributions to the study of the mind and brain. It introduced leading researchers inside and outside of Arizona to the field of functional brain mapping, and researchers there conducted some of the first studies to characterize regions of the brain that contribute to human memory, emotion, pain, hunger and satiation, and the predisposition to conditions like Alzheimer's disease and obesity. The program has also played a role in neurosurgical planning, and cancer staging and treatment.
Different tracers are used to measure different processes in the body. The new cyclotron will allow the hospital’s Molecular Imaging Laboratory to produce more types of imaging tracers than it can produce now and in greater quantities, as well as provide capability for developing new imaging tracers for research.
“The new cyclotron and Molecular Imaging Laboratory will play a critical role in helping Banner fulfill its patient care and research missions,” said Eric M. Reiman, M.D., executive director of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute. “It will used by the Banner Alzheimer's Institute to help find treatments to stop and end Alzheimer's disease, by researchers and clinicians at Banner and around the state to optimize the care of patients with cancer, and it will contribute to the state's mission of transforming the field of personalized medicine."
Banner Good Samaritan developed the first PET Center in Arizona and installed the existing cyclotron, one of the first in the nation in a hospital setting, in 1991. That cyclotron will eventually be decommissioned and removed.
The new cyclotron will be housed in a 4,500-square-foot laboratory located on the Banner Good Samaritan campus, but its exact location won’t be determined until late January. Radioisotopes have a short half life, from two minutes to two hours, so the cyclotron must be located relatively close to the existing PET facility in the hospital. The Banner Health Foundation board of directors approved a $1.8 million allocation to purchase the device.
About Good Samaritan Medical Center
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a not-for-profit organization, and is a flagship hospital within the system. The hospital was recently named to U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for Gynecology, Heart and Heart Surgery, Kidney Disease and Urology. Banner Good Samaritan has been recognized as a Magnet facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices.
About Banner Alzheimer’s Institute
The Banner Alzheimer’s Institute is a treatment and research facility dedicated to helping patients with memory and thinking problems. It offers clinical care for patients; provides education, referral and support services for family and caregivers; and conducts leading-edge research in clinical trials, brain imaging and genetics studies. The Institute is devoted to finding effective Alzheimer’s disease-slowing and prevention treatments in the shortest time possible. It is owned and operated by Banner Health. For more information about Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, please visit www.banneralz.org.
Contact:
Banner Good Samaritan Public Relations
(602) 239-4411
Banner Alzheimer's Institute
(602) 239-6900
