Gift Provides for Integrated Diagnostics
From the September/October 2008 issue of UCHC e-Link, the October 2008 issue of e-Momentum and the fall 2008 issue of UConn Momentum
RELATED: Press release from the UConn Health Center Office of Communications
A new major gift from UConn’s most generous donors will enable the UConn Health Center to be the first in the region with an integrated imaging and treatment suite to help patients seamlessly move from diagnostics to treatment planning to treatment, using the latest technology.
Torrington natives Carole and Ray ’56 ’01H Neag made the $3.8-million pledge to upgrade the Health Center’s computed tomography (CT) scanner with a new, more advanced model, as well as to incorporate new planning and treatment tools into the suite. The latest pledge complements their 2006 gift to acquire a Tomotherapy cancer treatment system for the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. The new integrated suite will allow for even more thorough and precise application of Tomotherapy.
The suite will also enhance nearly every area of the Health Center’s operations, from conducting research to educating students and treating patients through the Center’s signature programs, such as cancer and cardiology.
“The suite’s functionality for cardiology alone will be leaps and bounds beyond our existing capabilities,” says Bruce Liang, M.D., director of the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center. “This will truly be an upgrade to state-of-the-art technology.”
Advantages of the new scanner include clearer images, a reduction in scanning times by about 90 percent, and selective presentation of a scanned image, allowing a physician to, for example, isolate the image of a heart without including arteries and vessels that may be blocking the view.
The suite also offers a CT simulator for treatment planning, as well as new high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy, used to treat breast, cervical, uterine and other cancers at the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Brachytherapy is a treatment that uses localized, controlled radioactive implants placed internally near cancer cells. As it was traditionally offered, brachytherapy required the patient to be on bed rest for several days, with limited exposure to others due to their radiation. HDR is offered on an outpatient basis, with 20-minute treatments, typically repeated a few times. The addition of the simulator allows more efficient, convenient and accurate treatment planning to be offered for all cancer patients.
“The addition of HDR dramatically increases our ability to give our cancer patients treatment options,” says Robert Dowsett, M.D., of the Division of Radiation Oncology. “It is becoming the standard of care, and offers major improvements in patient convenience and comfort.”
Ray Neag says that the decision to give was driven by the desire to offer the state’s residents the very best care.
“Carole and I take a broad view about the need to serve the people of Connecticut,” he says. “We feel strongly about the state and its University, and believe that our state’s flagship research university should have the very best if at all possible.”
Douglas Fellows, M.D., F.A.C.R., is the chair of Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Therapeutics at the Health Center, and says that the new equipment couldn’t come at a better time in the field’s development.
“As radiology advances, it’s important that we remain on the cutting edge at the state’s flagship teaching hospital,” Fellows says. “The Neags’ generosity has made a huge difference to UConn and the patients who depend on us every day.”
To support the UConn Health Center, please contact the Office of Development and Alumni Relations.
