Several years ago, Prof. Ora Israel, Director of Research Operations and Nuclear Medicine at Rambam Health Care Campus, and her team of RHCC-based clinical scientists and physicists partnered with industry based engineers to develop the PET/CT, an enhanced imaging tool that combines PET with x-ray computed tomography (the familiar CT or CAT scan) in a single, hybrid device. Not only was the PET/CT device developed at Rambam the first of its kind in Israel, but also, in 2001, RHCC became one of the first three healthcare providers in the world to install this tool in a clinical environment.  Since January 2002, RHCC has experienced a gradual but persistent increase in the number of PET/CT patient scans performed, which has amounted to a 140% increase over a 5-year period! The steady increase in the number of patients requiring diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic PET/CT services represents an unprecedented workload for any medical center equipped with a single such device. RHCC has in fact reached a plateau beyond which it cannot go without acquiring a second PET/CT device.

Articles:
Haifa Honors Prof. Ora Israel on International Women's Day
Hybrid Imaging: Cutting-Edge Diagnosis and Treatment Minus the Knife