First Siemens PETNET Services to Hit India

March 26, 2008 – Siemens will launch its first molecular imaging biomarker production facility in Chennai, India, aiming to enable healthcare providers in Chennai and its surrounding areas to access the positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) technology in hopes of better diagnosing patients with life-threatening diseases.
The new facility will produce and supply the required radiopharmaceuticals to hospitals that have positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) facilities. The Siemens Eclipse HP cyclotron will be featured at the facility and deployed to manufacture fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), the imaging biomarker used in PET-CT facilities to assist with diagnosis and staging of disease processes and to monitor cellular response to treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
At this time, there is no PET-CT in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu due to a critical lack of F18-FDG, which has a half-life of only 110 minutes (losing half of its radioactivity every 110 minutes) and cannot be imported or transported long distances. The new cyclotron will reportedly guarantee reliable delivery of PET radiopharmaceuticals and may increase availability of FDG, allowing more patients in Chennai and nearby areas to have access to improved PET-CT imaging.
For more information: www.usa.siemens.com/medical