Medical imaging has taken a quantum leap forward in the Red River Radio listening area. The United-Imaging Digital PET/CT Scanner is now in use in Shreveport. This machine is one of only two such devices in the entire country. And it just went into service in January. This medical diagnostic development is unfolding just off Kings Highway at the Center for Molecular Imaging and Therapy (CMIT).
We all know about x-rays taken at the hospital. A computed tomography, better known as a CT scan, just combines a series of x-rays, by using computer processing, to create a three dimensional image. The term tomography simply means imaging by sections, creating a series of cross-sectional slices. This new device creates far more ‘imaging slices’ and is nearly twice as fast. The positron emission tomography, or PET scan, uses a radioactive substance, referred to as a tracer, that’s either injected, swallowed, or inhaled.
The tracer emits gamma rays, which are far more powerful than x-rays, to follow that radioactive tracer. Such a procedure is often used to find cancer cells. A PET scan can also be used to diagnose or evaluate many different medical conditions, which include certain heart or brain disorders such as tumors, Alzheimer’s disease, and seizures.
Dr. Stephen Lokitz, the interim director at the center, says the CT scan tells them what’s there and the PET scan tells them how the body is working on a cellular level. “It is a massive technological step up for us. We’ve been in this business for 30 years or so. So, we’ve had a variety of cameras over the years. And the latest one we installed was in 2023. So, this one, modern technology has revolutionized in the last 10 years. Sometimes upgrades are evolutionary. But this one is [a] truly revolutionary upgrade in the capabilities it has.”
Most importantly, this next generation technology helps save lives with much earlier detection, of cancer lesions, for example. A separate example is early detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. A PET scan can measure the build-up of abnormal amyloid protein that clumps together to form sticky, starch-like plaques on the brain which disrupt cell function.
Dr. Lokitz says the all-digital PET/CT scanner produces vastly higher resolution images with its remarkable sensitivity. And Lokitz was struck by what happened with their first patient to undergo a procedure with the scanner. “First patient out of the gate the interpreting physician saw something and went back and looked back, this patient has previous scans and he looked at the scans from the old scanner and said, ‘I think that there’s evidence that that was there previously, we just couldn’t see it. It wasn’t interpretable to the point we could say definitively it was there.' So, right out of the gate we saw clinical impact, which is very exciting for us.”
Getting to this point with their digital PET-CT scan machine proved very challenging. Fortunately, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana sponsored them for a $2,000,000 federal grant. When those funds weren’t quite enough to purchase the scanner, Lokitz says the BRF [a local economic development organization] kicked in the rest of the money.
The only other digital PET-CT scan machine in the country, at the moment, is being used solely for research at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lokitz says the they too will utilize their new scanner for research at CMIT, specifically to make improvements to the radioactive tracer system. He says simply having the scanner here will encourage other researchers to do their work at CMIT.
Your doctor's referral is necessary for an appointment. As for the future, Dr. Lokitz says they "have 13 current employees within CMIT and the plan is to grow to about 40 within 7 years."
