THIS ISN’T the type of camera you can take on holiday. In fact it’s so big that it fills an entire room, but the new Gamma Camera and accompanying “Hot Lab” at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) has snapped the island’s health care facility into the 21st century.Nuclear Medicine has been used for several years in Bermuda to provide diagnostic information about functionality of internal organs by way of injection, inhalation, or capsule form of a radioactive material.

Radionuclides are tagged to pharmaceuticals to visualise images of specific organs utilising the gamma camera.

In fact, diagnostic procedures are routine, explains diagnostic imaging manager, Renée Butterfield, who adds that the demand for Nuclear Medicine procedures is rapidly increasing with advances in technology.

KEMH installed the new G.E. Infinia (2) Dual Head Gamma Camera in March of this year to replace the previously outdated single-head camera.

Miss Butterfield explains that it has the additional capabilities to perform cardiac exams to diagnose ischemia and coronary infarctions just to name two heart-related diseases.

The newly renovated department’s “Hot Lab” is where radioactive materials are prepared and kept until the established decay rate has been met.

Miss Butterfield and former colleague, Shelagh Tasker, spent close to eight years developing the area which was completed in September last year, subsequently receiving licensure for successfully passing accreditation two months ago.

The senior imaging technologist for Nuclear Medicine at KEMH, Maria Hart explains how the new machine works: “In Nuclear Medicine diagnosing techniques using very small amounts of radioactive materials are introduced into the body. Because they are attracted to specific organs or tissues, the emissions they produce can provide crucial information about a particular type of cancer or other condition.

“Information gathered during a Nuclear Medicine scan is different in that it describes organ function, not just structure. The result is that many diseases and cancers can be diagnosed earlier.”

Ms Hart adds that because Nuclear Medicine procedures utilise very small doses of short-lived nuclides (ones that only stay radioactive for a few hours or days), the amount of radiation received is generally less than or equal to that of an X-ray. Whole body and healthy tissue doses can be minimised while the radionuclide is targeted toward the affected tissue or organ.

She says the machine is vital to Bermuda because patients no longer need to fly abroad for follow-ups once a diagnosis has been established.

“We are also able to perform emergency procedures, such as V/Q scans which detect Pulmonary Embolisms (blood clots) which requires immediate treatment,” she says.

Miss Butterfield says KEMH received Canadian Accreditation using the American College of Radiology (ACR) standards and in the future hopes to earn additional accreditation through the ACR.

“At present, the machine is primarily used to detect the spread of metastatic lesions to bones in patients diagnosed with breast and prostate cancers as well as diagnosing pulmonary embolisms (blood clots)” she says. “Additional scans include thyroid, renal, liver/spleen and white blood cell labelling, just to name a few.”