New scanner increases imaging options at St. John's Health

With the recent addition of a new nuclear medicine SPECT/CT scanner, St. John’s Health is pleased to announce expanded functionality and capacity in the Diagnostic Imaging Department. The acquisition was made possible due to support from donors, the St. John’s Health Auxiliary, Teton Pines Women’s Golf Association, and the St. John’s Health Foundation.

“St. John’s Health, with our physician partners at Jackson Hole Medical Imaging, offers the premier diagnostic imaging program in the region,” said communications officer Karen Connelly. “We are able to sustain our high quality program by offering imaging capabilities and service excellence to fully meet community need.”

The Symbia Intevo Bold from Siemens offers multiple industry-leading scanning applications, combining single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) technologies with new, high-performance CT capabilities to enable a wide range of clinical applications. It provides nuclear medicine images and also operates as a CT (computed tomography) scanner.

“Our new equipment replaces a nuclear medicine scanner we’ve retired, and it also helps us accommodate total demand for CT scans,” said Connelly.

There are significant benefits to having a scanner that combines nuclear medicine and CT. By laying CT images over nuclear medicine images, the new equipment helps physicians better localize areas of concern. These images can offer improved clarity over utilizing nuclear medicine alone. Because the combined nuclear medicine/CT equipment can also be utilized to perform CT independently, there won’t be a need to delay CT tests for patients when the primary CT equipment is unavailable.

More facilities are utilizing SPECT/CT systems as standalone or backup diagnostic CT systems.

Because the scanner may be used as a primary CT in many facilities, Siemens chose to outfit it with more advanced CT technologies. These include advanced algorithms that produce high quality images at reduced radiation dose and an algorithm that minimizes the effect of metal implants on the image.

Nuclear medicine scanners are used to image the heart and help detect cancer in various organs of the body. CT scanners are used to evaluate orthopedic, soft tissue, and spine problems. CT scanners also support St. John’s new brachytherapy cancer treatment program, allowing the radiation oncologist to utilize CT to verify accurate placement of treatment catheters.

”The Symbia Intevo Bold advances the dual use capabilities of nuclear medicine and CT enabling exceptional image quality in both forms of imaging at the lowest possible patient dose,” said Administrative Director of Diagnostic Imaging Michelle Kren.

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Media contact:

Karen Connelly, Chief Communications Officer, kconnelly@stjohns.health, 307.739.7380