UAB Scanner

Posted: Sun 2:15 PM, Aug 11, 2002

University of Alabama at Birmingham doctors have begun using a new scanner that is billed as the most sophisticated in the world in checking for cancer and heart and brain disease.

The scanner, which cost $2.25 million, was used by a patient at UAB for the first time Wednesday, with a second in line for scanning.

With detailed images, doctors can more effectively diagnose and determine the stage of cancer.

Dr. James Mountz, a professor of radiology and director of nuclear medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham said the scanner, called the Discovery-LS PET-CT, is the first in Alabama.

General Electric, which manufactures the scanner, has sold about 100 machines.

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