PESHAWAR
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar completes another milestone on its four-year anniversary with the commencement of PET CT scanning facility. In this groundbreaking step, SKMCH&RC has brought the first PET CT scanning system to northern Pakistan. This also marks the inauguration of the Nuclear Medicine services at SKMCH&RC, Peshawar. In six months’ time comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic applications of Nuclear Medicine will be available to the patients of the region. Nuclear Medicine employs minute amounts of radioactive material called radiopharmaceuticals to study the function of body systems and organs. PET CT scan is one of the most advanced hybrid imaging modalities for cancer patients. Majority of the cancer patients require multiple PET C T scans during the course of the treatment. It is primarily used for staging after diagnosis, during treatment for treatment response assessment and at the end of treatment to ensure the patient has no traces of cancer in the body. This step is of tremendous benefit for cancer patients who previously had to travel to Lahore to seek this service in a long and costly journey. On average, around a hundred patients will benefit from this service every month, majority of whom are underprivileged cancer patients receiving free treatment at the Hospital.—PR
