Gibson Cancer Center now offers on-site PET/CT services

Oct. 16—LUMBERTON — The most cutting-edge medical imaging technology available is now being offered to patients at UNC Health Southeastern's Gibson Cancer Center

The GCC recently installed a fixed PET/CT scanner, and the first patients were treated using the new system on Tuesday.

According to the manufacturer, Siemens Healthineers, the state-of-the-art system will better enable GCC to deliver the highest levels of efficient and effective care to patients throughout the health system's service area.

A positron emission tomography, or PET, scanner creates 3D images of the body that are used when planning or monitoring cancer treatment, according to GCC. The premium PET/CT technology helps GCC providers detect disease and better understand disease progression for accurate and early treatment decisions, all with short scan times and a wide bore for enhanced patient comfort.

"We are thrilled to bring this technology to our community in a permanent model, as opposed to a mobile unit as has been offered on the main hospital campus in the past," said Lori Dove, UNC Health Southeastern vice president and interim chief operating officer Lori Dove.

Dove's responsibility areas include Gibson Cancer Center.

"This system enables our facility to identify the smallest of lesions early as a result of the high resolution and image quality, which supports an accurate diagnosis and more personalized treatment options to our patients," Dove said. "By incorporating premium PET/CT into our practice, we can improve patient outcomes, reduce procedure costs, and help avoid ineffective therapies for our patients."

An expansion at GCC earlier this year included the addition of a second linear accelerator in addition to the fixed PET scanner. The expansion was funded, in part, by grants from The Golden LEAF Foundation, The Cannon Foundation, Inc., and the North Carolina Rural Building Reuse Program.

The center, established in 1995, is the only outpatient cancer treatment facility in Robeson County. The center offers medical oncology through Duke Health and radiation oncology in partnership with Southeastern Radiation Oncology Group. The center also offers a blood disorders clinic and its patients often volunteer for clinical trials and research.

For more information about GCC, visit https://www.srmc.org/care-treatment/cancer/.