4,600 Karats of Garnet—That’s Some Bling

Nuclear medicine technologists are used to working with crystals, such as BGO, LSO, NaI and GSO, as scintillation materials to catch gamma and positron emissions. Soon, however, they might be working beside 4,600 karats of semi-precious garnets too. 

This is the new scintillation material that is being used to create GE Healthcare's high-definition CT scanner.

"It is a real garnet that our engineers have molecularly altered to improve its imaging capabilities," said a GE spokesperson. It is 99 percent garnet and 1 percent of an additive that turns the garnet from its natural red to yellow.

The spokesperson went on to tell me that garnets have unique imaging qualities and are already used for Lasix or laser eye surgery to increase preciseness. GE has a patent on modifying the gem for use in imaging and has stockpiled quantities of these jewels, which will be fused together to form the scintillation matrix for a new 64-slice CT system.

This new system is still in process of research and will be submitted for 510 K approval in the first half of  this year. Knowing how fast new CT systems get incorporated into the PET/CT and SPECT/CT systems, however, it might not be long before nuclear medicine technologists are working with gems from GE Healthcare.

*photo courtesy: GE Healthcare