CCHC and Shields Health Care Group Form Joint Venture for PET/CT Services

Key tool in comprehensive oncology services program

HYANNIS - Cape Cod Healthcare and Shields Health Care Group announced this month that they have formed a joint venture to introduce  PET/CT (Positron Emission Tomography combined with Computed Tomography) cancer imaging services to Cape Cod. 

“We’re very happy to launch this service on the Cape,” said Joe Martins, PET/CT Operations Director at Shields Health Care Group. “What excites referring doctors the most about this technology is the amount and quality of information they can get in a single scan.”

“Our partnership with Shields will be of great benefit to our cancer patients,” added Michael Lauf, Chief Operating Officer, CCHC. “PET has three key areas where it has an important impact to patient care and outcomes: early cancer detection; staging the progression of cancer; and monitoring the success of therapy. PET provides another tool in our comprehensive oncology services program.”

The PET/CT unit will be available at the Fontaine Medical Center, 525 Long Pond Road in Harwich, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, effective Feb. 23, 2009. Additional hours will be announced at a later date. Call 1-866-258-4PET (4738) to schedule a PET/CT scan or for more information.

One in three people will experience cancer in their lifetime.  According to the American Cancer Society, over 1.3 million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year alone in the United States.   

CT scanners provide good detail of the inside of the body, but they do not show which cells are active, or how active they are. This is what the PET scan can do. PET scanners take advantage of the fact that cancer cells burn the sugar glucose at unusually high rates. Patients to be scanned are given an injection of radioactive glucose. The decay particles given off by that glucose are called positrons, and can be detected by the scanner.  By calculating precisely where the source of the positrons is located in the patient, PET can locate where in the body cancer cells are burning glucose at unusually high levels.

Combining CT with PET is the best of both worlds. It not only provides the ability to identify the presence or extent of disease via PET, it also gives the correlative CT to pinpoint exactly where a follow-up biopsy, therapy or surgery should be performed.

A PET/CT scan typically takes about 30 minutes to complete. Medicare, Medicaid and most private payers cover the cost of a PET/CT scan.   While not all cancer types are eligible for PET/CT insurance payments, the cancers that affect the largest number of people are, including lung, breast, colorectal, lymphoma, melanoma, head & neck, esophageal, and thyroid cancers.

Release courtesy of CCHC.

About Cape Cod Healthcare
Cape Cod Healthcare is the leading provider of healthcare services for residents and visitors of Cape Cod. With more than 450 physicians and 4,500 employees, Cape Cod Healthcare has two-acute care hospitals, the largest home health services agency on the Cape (VNA), a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility, an assisted living facility and numerous health programs. For more information, visit Cape Cod Healthcare’s web site at www.capecodhealth.org.

About Shields Health Care Group
Shields Health Care Group is an independent, New England-based medical service provider with a national reputation for blending exceptional customer service with superior technology. A family-owned and operated business for over 25 years, Shields Health Care Group operates a network of 21 imaging centers, 5 PET/CT locations and 3 Radiation Oncology centers which offer the most advanced technology. For more information, visit http://www.shields.com.