Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust halves PET/CT appointment times and boosts departmental workflow

  • The implementation of the Biograph Vision PET/CT scanner at Charing Cross Hospital has increased departmental patient throughput by 25 percent - decreasing appointment time slots by more than half.
  • The Biograph Vision will predominantly be used for oncology, infection and neurology, including amyloid imaging, with plans to introduce a PET/CT cardiac service in the future. 
  • It is expected the system’s capabilities and reputation will help the Trust remain competitive for potential research opportunities with external organisations.

United Kingdom

|2022-08-03
Team with Biograph Vision
[From left to right] Luis Alves – PET/CT Modality Lead at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, with Melissa Vartzokas – MI Product Specialist and Nichola Yates – Regional Sales Manager for Siemens Healthineers GB&I alongside Bamidele Williams – Senior Clinical Technologist, Leicester Marquez – Healthcare Assistant, Matthew Morgan – Senior Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Robert Konstandelos – Clinical Technologist, Niamh Bickford – Nuclear Medicine Technologist and Zarni Win – Head of Service Nuclear Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, based across five London hospitals including Hammersmith, Charing Cross and St. Mary’s, has implemented the Biograph Vision™ PET/CT scanner from Siemens Healthineers to enhance workflow efficiency. The system, introduced in Charing Cross Hospital, will primarily be used for oncology, infection and neurology, including amyloid examinations with plans to expand services to include PET/CT cardiac imaging in the future.

Facing growing demands for PET/CT imaging, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ran an extended hours service, scanning patients from eight a.m until eight p.m across six days to manage growing patient waiting lists. The implementation of the Biograph Vision has enabled the Imaging Department to increase patient throughput by 25 percent, while also returning staff to non-extended working hours. Optimised scan times facilitate this improved workflow and have supported the Trust in reducing appointment times by more than half, helping them work within NHS patient turnaround timeframes.  

With remote education and advanced training before implementation, the system has been scanning with optimised protocols to enhance workflows in the Imaging Department at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. It is expected the reputation of the Biograph Vision will enable the Trust to secure further research opportunities with external organisations, facilitated by improved workflow to allow greater access for research, with several studies already in the pipeline.

The Biograph Vision is equipped with FlowMotion™ AI to reduce unnecessary exposure to CT radiation, allowing users to obtain whole-body dynamic images, whilst helping minimise patient discomfort on the scanning table by optimising scan times. The technology also offers user independence through personalised and disease-specific protocols enabling enhanced clinical workflows. In addition, the high spatial resolution imaging of the Biograph Vision makes it easier to see small lesions which can help to quantify more accurately and improve clinical confidence when evaluating disease progression.

 “We have received excellent feedback from both new and returning patients at the Trust, with many commenting on the reduction in scanning time of the Biograph Vision compared to our old system. Before, an examination would last for 25 to 30 minutes while now it’s under 10 minutes. Additionally, we’ve seen a decrease in appointment cancellations due to the system being wider and faster and patients feeling more at ease lying down on the scanning table,” states Dr Zarni Win, Head of Service Nuclear Medicine at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

“We’re pleased to play a part in enabling an increase in patient throughput at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and helping to tackle growing demand for PET/CT,” states Lawrence Foulsham, Molecular Imaging Business Manager at Siemens Healthineers GB&I. “The AI features of the Biograph Vision will help to automate clinical processes and when aligned with the system’s rapid scanning times, will continue to support workflow improvements for the Trust.”

Find out more about the Biograph Vision.

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