MaineHealth Aims to Achieve American Society of Nuclear Cardiology Guidelines with UltraSPECT Technology

September 11, 2013 -- UltraSPECT announced that MaineHealth, a family of hospitals and medical centers throughout Maine, has selected the UltraSPECT Xpress.Cardiac and Xpress3.Cardiac solutions as part of the organization’s strategy for reducing nuclear medicine (NM) dose and complying with the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) final guidelines effective Jan. 1, 2014. Maine Medical Partners (MMP) – MaineHealth Cardiology in South Portland is one of 10 facilities within MaineHealth that is installing the product, with others scheduled to continue roll out before the end of 2013. 

"Radiation exposure reduction is a global priority and is readily achievable today through a combination of practices that includes innovative software like that from UltraSPECT," says Mylan Cohen, M.D., medical director of noninvasive cardiology at Maine Medical Center and former ASNC president. "MaineHealth is proud to be a leader in meeting the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology dose-reduction recommendations as we continue to take steps to implement advanced methods to reduce radiation exposure related to cardiac imaging for patients under our care."

ASNC recommends that the nuclear cardiology community limit the total radiation exposure to patients undergoing SPECT/PET myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) tests to an average of less than or equal to 9 mSv (millisieverts) in 50 percent of studies by 2014. Previously, the average was approximately 12 to 13 mSv for stress and rest imaging. 

MMP — MaineHealth Cardiology conducts nearly 2800 nuclear medicine studies each year. The goal for the facility is to reduce both radiation dose, as well as the length of time of each study. Using the company’s proprietary Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithm, the solution enhances the performance of existing NM cameras, enabling a 50 percent reduction in standard radiopharmaceutical injected dose, reducing imaging scan time up to 50 percent for abbreviated exams and greater patient comfort, while maintaining the highest level of image quality. Further, the UltraSPECT Xpress3.Cardiac software is the only solution for lowering dose and shortening exam time that works with all manufacturers’ SPECT cameras to cost-effectively retrofit existing technology for optimal patient outcomes, something that is especially ideal for a large organization like MaineHealth.

The selection of UltraSPECT comes in part as a result of the agreement between UltraSPECT and radiopharmaceutical provider PharmaLogic, under which PharmaLogic is offering the WBR software as part of its patient-centered approach. Healthcare organizations can now streamline the acquisition of UltraSPECT’s software through PharmaLogic versus making a standard capital purchase directly from UltraSPECT.

For more information visit www.ultraspect.com