Volume 17, No. 2, Spring 2009
Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) and Shields Health Care Group have formed a joint venture to introduce PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography combined with Computed Tomography) cancer imaging services to Cape Cod.
The PET/CT unit is available at the Fontaine Medical Center in Harwich, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, 1-866-258-4PET (4738) to schedule a PET/CT scan or for more information.
Tom Shields, the company’s executive vice-president, said this service also is being extended to CCHC’s Falmouth Hospital location and that a third Cape location is being considered. He added that they also have the PET/CT capability in Taunton.
This latest joint venture does not represent any complete merger, however, since Shields and CCHC will continue to provide MRI and CAT scans at their separate Cape locations.
CT scanners provide good detail of the inside of the body, but do not show which cells are active, or how active they are. This is what the PET scan can do. Combining CT with PET provides the best of both processes.
PET scanners take advantage of the fact that cancer cells burn the sugar glucose at unusually high rates. Patients to be scanned are given an injection of radioactive glucose an hour before the scan starts.The decay particles given off by that glucose are called positrons, and can be detected by the scanner. By calculating precisely where the source of the positrons is located, PET can locate just where the cancer cells are burning glucose at unusually high levels. The actual scan takes 30 minutes or less.
Medicare, Medicaid and most private payers cover the cost of a PET/CT scan for the most common cancers.