DCOL’s Longview Cardiology Clinic in East Texas has been very pleased with the ability, quality, and customer support of our D-Spect camera. We have a practice that has a lot of morbidly obese patients and we are continually amazed at the superior image quality. We get referrals from all over the area and competing markets since we can image patients over 500 lbs. The fast scan times allow for us to do more patients effectively and efficiently. Also, the patients who have had past nuclear scans enjoy the quicker scan times as well as the comfort of sitting in an upright position. Overall, the D-Spect has set us apart from other nuclear labs and we continue to enjoy the camera’s capabilities. Dr. George Leatherman, M.D., F.A.C.C

We are a cardiovascular practice in South Carolina consisting of four cardiologists (three interventional, one invasive & non-interventional) and two cardiovascular surgeons. We have owned nuclear imaging equipment since 1991. Prior to acquiring the Spectrum-Dynamics, we were using an Elscint Cardial purchased in 1998. We were obtaining about ten studies per day with the Elscint, but our back-log of patients spanned over several weeks; obviously not a good situation for a cardiology practice. In addition to badly needing more through-put, we had struggled with service issues with the Elscint over a period of a couple of years. As you may know, GE service is not ideal for the Elscint equipment.

After reviewing each manufacturer, we realized that there was nothing really “new” on the market except for the solid state camera. Increasing through-put appeared to be easy with this technology. It is also capable of so much more, including functional data that has never been acquired with a gamma camera. The possibilities of future developments with this technology are also endless.

We decided to “bite the bullet”, take the plunge, or whatever you prefer to call it, in spite of all the negative comments made by the competitors, i.e.,

1.      It’s more expensive

2.      Questionable stability of the company

3.      Who performs the service?

4.      Too difficult of a transition for the technologists, etc.

Our actual experience has been the following:

1.     The easiest installation we have ever experienced in 35 years of practice

2.     Our technologists transitioned well within a week

3.     Our patients are in love with the chair and the much shorter scan time - we can also scan heavier patients than ever before with terrific image quality 

4.     Images are outstanding on everyone 

5.     We have easily added three patients per day after only six weeks of use – we are experimenting with our protocols in order to do more

6.     The foot-print of the camera is very small

7.     We have had no service or application issues.

As you can tell, we are extremely happy that we purchased the Spectrum-Dynamics. We are excited to be working with a company who is on the cutting edge of technology, still moving forward, and have made this opportunity an affordable one for most practices.  

Sincerely,

Joan Cundey, RVT, RDMS, CMPE

Practice Administrator

Carolina Heart & Vascular Center