The Hindu Business Line : Scope for PET scans in Chennai

Chennai, March 26 There are a few tests to determine whether a person has cancer or not, but of them all, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the surest shot. With a combination of PET and CT scan, a doctor can pinpoint all the cancer-affected regions in the body. But alas, Chennai does not have a PET facility, although all other Indian metros, except Kolkata, do.

But that will change now, thanks to a Rs 15-crore facility that Siemens is putting up for producing a radioactive biomarker fluid, called fluro de-oxy glucose (FDG). To detect cancer, FDG is injected into the patient, whereupon the chemical travels via the blood to all parts of the body. Cells absorb the glucose in it. Cancerous areas absorb more. The PET scan machine captures the emitted radiation. Where there is higher radiation there is cancer.

This radioactive liquid has a half-life of 110 minutes, i.e., every 110 minutes it loses half its activity. This means that if it is not used within about four hours of its production, it is no good. Because the FDG was not manufactured near Chennai, the PET-method of cancer detection has not been available to those in the city and the neighbourhood. But now that the Siemens facility is coming up at Sriperumbudur, there is scope for setting up PET scan facilities in Chennai.

According to Mr D. Raghavan, Head, Siemens Medical Solutions, which is a division of Siemens Ltd in Chennai, at least a thousand patients are treated for cancer each day. Since a post-treatment check is also needed to assess how well the treatment has worked, there are a large number of people who may potentially use a PET facility. Besides, since it is recognised that cancer is a silent killer, the availability of such a facility for early detection would also prompt companies to put this test under the executive health check-up programmes for their employees.

Siemens has today 44 FDG facilities in the world, mostly in the US.

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