Dallas Morning News Science Columnist Tom Siegfried Ranks PET Scanners as One of the "Top 10 Inventions of the Millennium".

HOFFMAN ESTATES, ILL.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 7, 1999--

Siemens and CTI, Inc.: Leaders in positron emission tomography (PET)

research and development for more than 20 years

Citing its ability to "expose the deepest secrets of the brain and body," Dallas Morning News' science columnist Tom Siegfried ranked PET scanners as one of the top 10 inventions of the millennium. In his October 4th column "Enumerating science's Top 10 inventions of the millennium," Siegfried positioned PET among inventions such as the Gregorian calendar, the mechanical clock, the world wide web, the steam engine, the transistor, the computer, the laser, the microscope, and the telescope.

Over the past 20 years, Siemens Medical Systems Nuclear Medicine Group with its joint venture partner CTI, Inc. have been at the forefront of PET diagnostic imaging, investing millions of dollars each year researching and developing high-energy nuclear medicine imaging devices for positron-based clinical applications. Since 1988, Siemens and CPS, Inc. (the JV company formed with CTI, Inc. that year) have shipped more than 200 dedicated PET scanners to locations around the world.

"We are truly gratified that Mr. Siegfried has chosen to place PET as one of the most significant developments in medical technology in the last 1,000 years," said Dr Ron Nutt, CTI's Vice President of Research and Development. "We have invested our hearts and souls into PET, and to see it recognized in this fashion is tremendously exciting. PET has already contributed significantly to the basic understanding of the human brain and other major organs of the body. In the next millennium PET will be used in therapy planning and management, including gene therapy, and to see how various drugs affect the body."

President Clinton recently recognized Dr. Michael E. Phelps, co-founder of CTI, Inc., by bestowing upon him the Enrico Fermi Award for his role in the invention of PET. This award is given for a lifetime of achievement in the field of nuclear energy and is considered the government's most prestigious science and technology award.

PET is an imaging procedure that provides physicians with information about the body's chemistry, cell function and exact location of disease. By imaging the biological, biochemical, or functional basis for disease, PET can eliminate unnecessary surgeries and inappropriate treatments saving countless lives and billions of dollars.

Siemens and CPS are also extending PET's clinical accessibility via Mobile Pet services and is moving this technology into the next century with the ongoing development of advanced LSO-based detectors. Perhaps even more significant for the future of this technology is the marriage of metabolic and anatomic imaging represented by the breakthrough PET/CT scanner now under advanced development at the University of Pittsburgh.

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc., Nuclear Medicine Group, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, develops and markets a wide range of nuclear medicine products. It is the U.S. affiliate of the Medical Engineering Group of Siemens AG, a leading supplier to healthcare providers worldwide. Siemens Medical Engineering, Erlangen, Germany, employs about 18,300 worldwide and reported sales of $4.2 billion (DM 7.5 billion) and orders of $4.5 billion (DM 8 billion) in fiscal 1997/98.

CTI, Inc., the world leader in PET products and services, is dedicated to advancing the quality of life with PET innovations. CTI's product line includes ECAT tomographs, RDS cyclotrons, and LSO and BGO detector materials for photon detection over a wide range of energies. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, CTI was founded in 1983 and employs about 280 people worldwide.

CPS is the joint venture formed in 1988 between Siemens Nuclear Medicine Group and CTI for the development of detector technologies, including but not exclusive to PET imaging systems.