Hidex instruments can be found in a wide variety of places, from remote nuclear power plants to hospital PET scanning facilities. At Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Nuclear Medicine department has been utilizing the Hidex Radiowater Generator since January 2022 for patient blood flow studies.
Hidex instruments can be found in a wide variety of places, from remote nuclear power plants to hospital PET scanning facilities. At Bispebjerg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Nuclear Medicine department has been utilizing the Hidex Radiowater Generator since January 2022 for patient blood flow studies.
In the Nuclear Medicine department, the Hidex Radiowater Generator is used primarily for myocardial perfusion studies. The initial estimation was to test around 1500 patients annually, but the actual number has been closer to 1000 patients. Physicist and Head of Radiowater Production Inge L. Rasmussen and Technologist Benedikte H. Christensen, who are frequent users of the system, shared their patient testing setup. Their scanning for blood flow studies includes two radioactive water (15O-H2O) injections that are administered to the patient, one initial injection at rest and a subsequent injection during an adenosine-induced stress state. Each patient scan takes in total about 25 minutes, allowing for an average of nine patients per day.
User-Friendly Technology
Hidex’s collaboration with cyclotron manufacturers has been crucial, as the Radiowater Generator works in synergy with a cyclotron. This partnership ensures that the system operates smoothly within the hospital's nuclear medicine infrastructure, allowing the use of the 15O tracer, an alternative to the more commonly used tracers 18F and 82Rb in nuclear medicine.
Benedikte H. Christensen, who handles the day-to-day operations such as setting up the Hidex cartridge, conducting quality control and guiding the patients through the scanning process, praised the system for its usability.
“The Hidex Radiowater Generator is easy to use as well as easy to train others to use, which is important for us since we have an average of 9 patients receiving heart scans every day” she shared.
Innovative Implementation in Nuclear Medicine
The department’s ambition to incorporate radiowater tracer technology had been a project that spanned several years. Hidex collaborated closely with Bispebjerg Hospital to develop a system tailored to Bispebjerg’s specific needs. Beyond myocardial perfusion, the Radiowater Generator has been used for brain perfusion, blood flow, and Achilles tendon studies, broadening the scope of the Hidex Radiowater Generator PET/CT applications to both clinical and research purposes.
The hospital's unique setup has also attracted considerable attention. Unlike most facilities that locate their cyclotrons in underground concrete bunkers, Bispebjerg Hospital’s cyclotron is housed in their parking lot. This distinctive arrangement has drawn interest from radiochemistry professionals, physicists and the national Danish media. The hospital’s setup has inspired other institutions in Denmark, with many visiting to observe their state-of-the-art facilities for housing the cyclotron and radiowater generator.
