Minister of public health inaugurates nuclear medicine department at HMC

QNADohaMinister of Public Health HE Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari inaugurated a set of new services in the field of Nuclear Medicine at the Clinical Imaging Department at the National Center for Cancer Care and Research of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).The new services reflect HMC's commitment to international standards to provide the best services related to clinical imaging for the purposes of early detection and diagnosis of diseases in the State of Qatar.These services include a second Positron Emission Tomography Scanner, a second hybrid imaging SPECT/CT Scanner, a Positron Emission Mammography imaging, a Radio Pharmacy Laboratory, and a Nuclear Medicine Therapy Unit.The launch of such new services reflects HMC's focus on the commitment to continue to advance in the quality of services and keep pace with the best international standards, as Nuclear Medicine is an integral part of clinical imaging and plays a major role in the diagnosis and early detection of diseases.The launch is also an important achievement for the health sector in the State of Qatar, as it will contribute to reducing waiting times, improving the quality of care provided and ultimately improving the results obtained by the patient. Nuclear Medicine is a specialized area of radiology that uses very small amounts of radioactive materials or radioactive pharmaceuticals to diagnose the work and structure of organs, and nuclear imaging allows viewing the organ, membrane structure and performance.Chief Radiologist for Molecular Imaging and Nuclear Medicine Dr. Maryam Al Kuwari explained that the launch of the new services is part of the strategy aimed at expanding the imaging services for Nuclear and Molecular Medicine provided by HMC to make these services more available to patients.Dr. Al Kuwari pointed out that Nuclear Medicine is used in conducting tests to diagnose many diseases and health problems such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and neurological diseases, adding that it is important to use the latest equipment to diagnose diseases with extreme accuracy, because different types of nuclear medicine equipment are designed for use in conjunction with specific radioisotopes for a variety of imaging purposes.She added that the installation of a second PET/CT at the Nuclear Medicine Department will assist cardiologists in selecting the right patients for intervention and invasive procedures, noting that patients with cancer and coronary artery diseases in Qatar will also receive improved high standards of care upon the completion of these new state-of-the-art installations. She added that the second PET/CT will also allow teams to undertake more PET/CT exams in oncology, thereby reducing the wait time for patients and allowing timely treatment.Dr. Al Kuwari indicated that the availability of Positron Emission Mammography will improve the chances of detecting recurrence in breast cancer patients post-surgery and radiotherapy, in addition, it will also improve the screening of breast cancer in females with equivocal conventional mammography and inconclusive MRI exams. Meanwhile, the Radio Pharmacy Laboratory also achieves international standards for radiological safety and quality control in nuclear medicine, which is considered an important aspect of obtaining professional accreditation.The new hybrid imaging SPECT/CT Scanner will improve accuracy of diagnosis by integrating functional images obtained from nuclear medicine and structural images from conventional CT in the same scan session, Dr. Al Kuwari added, noting that this is now the standard for determining abnormal functional characteristics.