Pictured are Wayne Kates, RT(R), CNMT, and Teresa Fletcher, Director of Radiology and Radiation Oncology. The “patient” is Casterdary Washington, who is serving as a "Volunteen" at the hospital.

Southwestern Medical Center is the first and only in the state of Oklahoma to offer the Discovery NM630, the latest advanced technology for Nuclear Medicine. The Discovery NM630 gives healthcare providers the outstanding capability to deliver excellent care to their patients. The doses are half the amount of standard NM scanning protocols. This will lead to significantly less time on the table with no compromising on the image quality. With today’s concern for radiation doses this technology will reduce the patient actual radiation dose. The exclusive evolution technology changes the relationship between time, dosage, and image quality by reducing the time or injected patient dose up to 50% in most scanning procedures while maintaining excellent image quality.

The Discovery NM630 is engineered to help accommodate more patients. The NM 630, with its large bore and table is capable of handling patients up to 500 pounds. The gantry has a 70cm opening versus the old 60cm opening, which will help accommodate our claustrophobic patient population.

The NM630 has the new technology of fusion imaging. This equipment has the software to allow CT and PET imaging to be over laid on nuclear medicine images. These images are over laid for the comparison of certain types of tumors. It will allow the radiologist and physician a better determination for the diagnosis of tumors that are carcinogenic versus tumors that are cystic or vascular. The more precise the information healthcare providers can get about a patient’s condition the more effectively that patient can be treated. The NM630 has the image capabilities for renal analysis, whole body bone and spots review, gall bladder analysis, gastric analysis, brain SPECT processing, lung analysis, thyroid and parathyroid analysis, adrenal analysis and cardiac analysis.

“We are proud to bring the newest technology to Oklahoma. It is our goal at Southwestern Medical Center to give exceptional service and the highest level of patient care at all times,” said Steve Hyde, CEO.

About Southwestern Medical Center
Southwestern Medical Center, a member of Capella Healthcare’s family of hospitals, is a 199-bed hospital serving Comanche County and SW Oklahoma. Since 1957, SWMC has been accredited by Joint Commission. The Neuroscience Center is the first and only accredited Stroke Program in SW Oklahoma by Joint Commission. Southwestern Regional Cancer Center was the first in SW Oklahoma accredited by the Commission on Cancer. SWMC is also accredited by CARF for rehabilitation services. Southwestern Medical Center has been serving the community for more than 100 years with quality care and the latest technology. For more information, please visit https://www.southwesternmedcenter.com.