Help us raise £650,000 for a state-of-the-art Gamma-CT Scanner.

Following the success of the NICU ‘space to grow’ Campaign, which saw The Forever Friends Appeal raise £3.1 million towards the new Dyson Centre for Neonatal care. The Appeal is now looking to purchase a state-of-the-art piece of equipment, which forms the first phase of a very exciting new campaign entitled ‘RUH space for Cancer Care’.

View our Campaign leaflet Inside (PDF) / Outside (PDF)

Cancer affects one in three people in the UK, and the catchment area of the RUH is no exception.  Early treatment is essential in combating the disease and a primary use of a Gamma Camera is to diagnose some of the myriad types of cancer that can affect us.  It can also be used in the detection of heart disease, bone pain and neurological disorders.Most people are familiar with the different ways doctors can produce images of the body: X-Rays, Ultrasounds, CT Scans, MRI Scans.  A Gamma Camera is another, less well known way of producing pictures to help diagnosis and treatment.

The Forever Friends Appeal aims to raise £650,000 to purchase this latest technology which combines a traditional Gamma Camera and a CT Scanner, thereby providing very detailed images.  These images will both identify even the earliest abnormality and accurately pinpoint its location for subsequent radiotherapy treatment.  A Gamma-CT Scanner also improves the patient experience as they no longer need to go through two separate, scans.

For an imaging study with a Gamma-CT Scanner, a patient ingests or inhales a tracer material that emits gamma radiation.  The tracer can also be injected. It may include a substance that is designed to tag particular types of tissue in the body, or it can be introduced to a specific region of interest, such as the heart or the lungs.  The Gamma-CT Scanner is positioned over the patient and as the tracer material travels through the body and emits radiation, the camera picks it up.

Gamma-CT Scanner… the first step

Both clips (Example Gamma-CT Scanner & History of Medical imaging) are from leading Medical Imaging Companies. Neither The Forever Friends Appeal Or the Royal United Hospital have agreed to purchase the above equipment from either of these companies, and these are for illustrative purposes only.