title: Status of the Positron Emission Tomography Centre at the Austin Hospital.
abstract: A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Centre is currently being established at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. The Centre has recently purchased a Siemens Model 951/31 PET scanner and an Ion Beam Applications (IBA) Model 10/5 cyclotron with associated targetry and automated radiochemistry modules. The initial areas of clinical investigation at the Austin Hospital will be heart and brain studies using 18Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and 13Nitrogen-ammonia (13NH3). The heart studies will concentrate on determining myocardial viability in patients following infarction whilst studies of epileptic patients will involve determination of the epileptic focus in the brain. A description of the major technical instrumentation is given together with an overview of the radiopharmaceutical production processes and the initial program of clinical investigations to be undertaken.
authors.affiliation: PET Centre, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg.
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Egan
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D005544:Forecasting; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006773:Hospitals, Municipal; D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011854:Radiochemistry; D012984:Software; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D009590:Nitrogen Radioisotopes