The hospital avoided the transfer of more than 1,100 patients to Salamanca thanks to the first PET scan.

In just six months, the implementation of the first positron emission tomography (PET) device at the León Hospital has saved more than 1,100 patient trips to Salamanca for vital screenings that allow early detection of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s). Last April, the nuclear medicine service of the León Medical Complex (Caule) launched this advanced technology, which has been fought for a quarter of a century and which also opened on May 2 to Bierzo patients after testing it on patients. medical zone of Leon.

In fact, 255 of the 1,109 studies that have since been made possible by this machine are from users in Ponferrada. This is a PET scan with computed axial tomography (CAT) added to it, making it the best “camera” for non-invasive photography of the inside of the body. Its main purpose is to diagnose the stage of the tumor and the response to the treatment given to the patient to know its effectiveness, but it has other useful applications such as detecting infections, neuronal changes, dementia, cognitive decline and cardiac lesions. .

The device is particularly reliable for imaging lung cancer, colorectal cancer, cancer of unknown origin, head and neck tumors, melanoma and lymphoma. And it also greatly benefits the list of potential users if they avoid the pilgrimage to Salamanca to find out where the tumor is, whether it has expanded, and whether the treatment they are using is reducing their lesions. The 182 kilometer long bypass road made their situation difficult and was corrected with this new advanced technology after 26 years.

“Carrying out this type of examination in our center means that Leonese patients do not have to travel to other provinces, mainly Salamanca,” admits the head of the service, Pedro Manuel Uriarte, emphasizing this from a technical point of view. From a PET perspective, PET studies are particularly valuable because of their “sensitivity,” that is, their ability to detect cancerous tissue or inflammatory or infectious lesions, “which is particularly useful in oncology in the broadest sense of the word, as well as in internal medicine.” and rheumatology” and for its “ability to report on the functioning of various organs such as the brain.”

The Community until this year operated only two PETs in Burgos and Salamanca, which served the rest of CyL and have just added a second device. The Leone Hospital and the Valladolid Hospital joined this network. This newest tool makes it possible to observe pathologies present in organs and tissues by intravenously injecting a marker (radiopharmaceutical) that “highlights” problem areas. Using CT, the detected lesion and its size are determined. To launch it, calibration tests, permission from the National Nuclear Safety Board and training of specialists were necessary. Half of the studies conducted using PET-CT were on patients from oncology, pulmonology and hematology, although seven other services also used the device.