Status of the Positron Emission Tomography Centre at the Austin Hospital

A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Centre is currently being established at the Austin Hospital, Melbourne. The Centre has recently purchased a Siemens Model 951/31 PET scanner and an Ion Beam Applications (IBA) Model 10/5 cyclotron with associated targetry and automated radiochemistry modules. The initial areas of clinical investigation at the Austin Hospital will be heart and brain studies using 18Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and 13Nitrogen-ammonia (13NH3). The heart studies will concentrate on determining myocardial viability in patients following infarction whilst studies of epileptic patients will involve determination of the epileptic focus in the brain. A description of the major technical instrumentation is given together with an overview of the radiopharmaceutical production processes and the initial program of clinical investigations to be undertaken.