PET-CT now available for patients at Concord Hospital.

Enhanced cancer care is now available closer to home for patients who live in Sydney’s inner-west.

A new PET (positron emission tomography) service has been officially opened at the Concord Cancer Centre at Concord Hospital.

“Having the imaging at the same place... means we can provide direct patient care, working closely together with a patient’s treating physicians,” Dr Robert Russo, the Director of hospital’s Molecular Imaging Department, said.

Dr Russo joined NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Sydney Local Health District’s Chief Executive Dr Teresa Anderson to tour the PET-CT suite and other advanced radiation oncology facilities.

The PET service began operating in October 2022 and has since seen 298 patients.

Images from PET-CT (computed tomography) scanners are used mainly during the care of cancer patients, to evaluate the severity of a patient’s disease, their response to therapy and to detect if the cancer reoccurs.

The images may also be used during the care of patients with heart conditions, as well as neurological disorders, epilepsy and a growing number of patients with dementia.

The scanner will allow specialists to identify diseases earlier so that they can better tailor treatment to individual patients.

Concord’s Head of Respiratory Medicine Professor Matthew Peters said the service will help to deliver rapid scan results for patients with lung cancer.

“We have patients on tenterhooks waiting for a diagnosis confirming or disproving [that they have cancer]. The reality of having PET-CT scanning available of high- quality, and rapid access [to it] significantly improves that whole process and patients benefit,” he said.

Professor Peters said it will make a big difference for physicians too.

“Just reading a text report is nothing like the value of actually sitting down with an experienced clinician, knowledgeable in PET, and discussing the individual patient and what the scan means,” Professor Peters said.

The addition of PET-CT imaging at Concord Hospital compliments the services already provided by the Centre which delivers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary cancer service in one location.

“It builds on the cutting-edge imaging service the District has been providing for the past 30 years at RPA,” Dr Anderson said.

The purpose-built PET-CT suite is in the new Rusty Priest Building on the hospital’s campus.

It complements the advanced radiation oncology service that's being delivered by the Icon Cancer Centre Concord and available for cancer patients at the Centre.