Cancer patients are choosing to travel 300 miles for a scan

An independent medical imaging centre in London, run by Alliance Medical, is receiving large numbers of requests from NHS patients who are choosing to travel from as far as Plymouth, Newcastle and Preston to have their scan.

PET scanning is an important diagnostic imaging technique, which is used to identify and stage many types of cancer. It has proven benefits for lung cancer patients. PET scanners are still very rare in the UK and as a result many cancer patients who could benefit will never have the chance to have a PET scan.

On Monday 17th November, cancer organisations, including Macmillan Cancer Relief, the British Lung Foundation and CancerBACUP have warned that lung cancer victims are being denied sophisticated PET scans that could save their lives.

During Lung Cancer Awareness Month the plight of cancer patients and the lack of access to PET is being raised at a national level. More information on PET can be found at a recently launched website which has been designed specifically for patients. For more info on Patient Zone click here >>

For further information please contact
Charlie Fox, Alliance Medical
01295 671223

Notes

• Formed in 1989, Alliance Medical Limited is Europe’s leading provider of managed healthcare imaging, operating more than 80 scanners, covering, MRI, CT, PET/CT and PET.
  
• The Alliance Medical Imaging Centre London has a state of the art PET/CT scanner, which has been scanning up to 8 patients a day since opening in February 2003.
  
• Alliance Medical has also invested in mobile PET scanners, which will be serving 10 public and private hospitals in the UK by the end of 2003.
  
• PET scanners are used in the primary diagnosis, staging and recurrence of a range of cancers including lung, lymphoma, bowel, breast, skin, head and neck. By detecting glucose in tumour tissue with the PET, it is possible to image malignant tissue, often before it is visible with other scanning techniques.
  
• When CT is combined with PET in one system or PET/CT, it provides anatomical and functional information, with the potential to lead to improved patient management. It allows a simultaneous display of anatomical and functional information to significantly enhance the diagnostic capacity of PET.
  
• Alliance are working on other solutions for equity of access for all patients, regardless of NHS or private status, across the UK.
  
• In 2003, the Intercollegiate Standing Committee on Nuclear Medicine reported “that the accumulating evidence indicates that with regard to patients with lung cancer, solitary pulmonary nodules and colorectal cancer and lymphoma, the addition of PET is likely to be effective in their management”. PET/CT represents the latest advance in bringing this important technology to patients and can also be used for a range of other cancers, including breast, skin and bowel.