First in Canada imaging technology means less stress, less radiation for patients at St. Joseph’s

London First in Canada imaging technology means less stress, less radiation for patients at St. Joseph’s The first in Canada Omni Legend PET/CT manufactured by GE Health Care is seen at St. Joseph's Health Care on May 31, 2024.

(Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) Share Inside the Molecular Imaging and Theranostics Department at St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ont. (formerly Nuclear Medicine), a patient is prepped for imaging.

She was moved inside the giant tube and scanned from head to toe. In the room next door, medical staff monitored the images coming in on their screens. A procedure that used to take about 45 minutes is now down to less than 15 minutes.

Because of the speedier process, patients are exposed to less radiation. “Comparing our old scanner to the current scanner, we would be able to do about one patient per hour,” explained Stephen Nelli, the director of Medical Imaging and Breast Care at St. Joseph’s.

“Whereas now we’re looking at about two to three patients per hour. So that effect multiplied over a year is very significant.” Nelli and other medical professionals at St.

Joseph’s are singing the praises of Canada’s first, next generation, state of the art Omni Legend PET/CT, installed at St. Joseph’s last September. With images from AI driven technology, doctors say they can precisely detect abnormalities or disease, including cancer and early signs of Alzheimer’s.

Medical Physicist Ting-Yim Lee and an imaging technologist study PET/C.