California Pacific Medical Center Premieres State-of-the-Art Diagnostic Imaging.

Business/News Editors & Health/Medical Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 2002

Fusion Imaging Provides Three-Dimensional Reconstruction, Leading

to More Accurate Diagnosis and Treatment of Cancers & Other Diseases

Patients at California Pacific Medical Center have a valuable new tool in the fight against cancer and other diseases with "fusion imaging" -- the very latest diagnostic imaging technique.

At the new CPMC-affiliated Fusion Diagnostic Group in San Francisco (415/921-7226), special software is used to electronically merge -- or "co-register" -- PET scans with either CT or MRI technology. The end result is an accurate three-dimensional reconstruction of the body's inner structures and workings, teaming the high resolution anatomical images obtained by CT or MRI with the unique physiologic information obtained from PET studies.

PET, or positron emission tomography, shows how the body metabolizes a low dose of radioactively-labeled glucose. Since malignant tumors use more glucose than normal tissue or benign tumors, PET scanning is rapidly becoming the imaging method of choice for diagnosing, staging and assessing the response to therapy for a variety of human cancers. While CT and MRI imaging provide clear anatomical views of the body, they cannot measure metabolic activity -- one of the strongest indications of malignancy.

There is mounting evidence that fusion imaging provides a more accurate method of diagnosing and localizing malignant tumors in the body. A California Pacific Medical Center study presented by Dr. Stephen R. Bunker at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Toronto in June, 2001, showed more accurate diagnosis when CT or MRI information was combined with PET, changing the approach to therapy in 38% of patients.

Whole body PET scanning has also been determined to be of significant benefit in the initial staging and evaluation of therapeutic response in breast cancer. CMS (formerly HCFA), the reimbursement approval body for Medicare, has authorized reimbursement for whole body PET imaging in breast cancer patients effective Oct. 1, 2002.

About California Pacific Medical Center

California Pacific Medical Center, a Sutter Health affiliate, is one of the largest private, not-for-profit teaching medical centers in Northern California. We are a tertiary referral center providing access to leading-edge medicine while delivering the best possible personalized care. CPMC provides a wide variety of services, including, acute, post-acute and outpatient hospital care; home care and hospice services; preventive and complementary care; and health education. Through our medical education program and our research institute, physicians at California Pacific Medical Center are able to bring health care innovation to the bedside.