New devices that make a big difference for patients!

“By allowing researchers to have access to this type of device, methods for screening for type 2 diabetes and monitoring treatments can be improved and, ultimately, it is the patients who benefit. In addition, this investment contributes to the maintenance of a center of research expertise here, in Sherbrooke. The CHUS Foundation is also proud to have contributed to the acquisition of clinical devices that increase accessibility to a wider range of rapid and accurate examinations.”  

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The two devices on the clinical side made it possible to carry out 1,562 additional examinations in the last year, mostly related to cancer, but also for cardiac imaging, for the detection of infections or even for the detection of Alzheimer's and dementia. “Because of its vocation as a university hospital center, it was important for the CIUSSS de l'Estrie — CHUS to acquire devices at the cutting edge of technology. The quality of the images produced by these PET-CT is much higher than those produced by the old generation of cameras and their detection sensitivity is also greater. For example, these devices make it possible to observe 4 mm lesions,” says Dr. Éric Turcotte, a nuclear scientist, professor and researcher at the Department of Nuclear Medicine.

The duration of an exam is much shorter, only 10 minutes are needed to take images of the whole body rather than 17 minutes in the previous version and 45 minutes, 25 years ago! This speed makes it possible to increase the number of people seen in a day and to reduce the number of doses of contrast product injected into a patient. Moreover, the purchase of an automatic injector offers the ability to administer doses that are more accurate and safer for staff.

This project represents an investment of more than 7 million dollars in high-tech equipment and 3.5 million in premises redevelopment work for the clinical sector of nuclear medicine.

A third device dedicated to research

“What we are doing in this room is what we are going to do in the clinic in 10 years,” said the scientific director of the CRCHUS, Dr. André Carpentier, during the visit to the new facilities. He is conducting research on type 2 diabetes, a constantly progressing disease that is linked to lifestyle, diet and fat that accumulates in various organs of the human body. “This device allows CRCHUS to refine its research and discover innovative treatments. It meets urgent and growing needs within funded research programs and those resulting from public and private collaborations requiring PET-CT in humans,” says Dr. Carpentier.

The acquisition of this more efficient device makes it possible to increase by 3 to 5 times the number of clinical studies that the CRCHUS can carry out in this field. The project, financed by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MÉI) in the amount of nearly $4 million, received financial support of $1 million from the CHUS Foundation and $800,000 from the CRCHUS.