TEHRAN -- Iranian researchers are working on manufacturing Positron Emission Tomography (PET) CT scanner, a type of nuclear medicine imaging.

“PET CT Scanners are imported to the country, however, if it is manufactured domestically, its expenses decrease and we can equip more hospitals with them,” head of the department of energy engineering and physics at Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology said. 

“We have already manufactured the main parts of the device. The homegrown device is 40 percent cheaper than the foreign models,” Mehr news agency quoted Hossein Afarideh as saying on Tuesday.

He called the ministry of health for supporting the project.

Iran is one of the leading countries that takes advantage of nuclear science and technology in high levels though we can employ the technology in industry sector more, he said.

One cannot disregard the role of the private sector in the progress of nuclear technology, he said, adding it should not be restricted to stat-run companies.

He pointed to the crucial role of knowledge-based companies in improving nuclear science and technology in Iran.

“Professional human resources can be a great help to optimize nuclear energy more than any time,” Afarideh concluded.

PET is a nuclear medicine functional imaging technique used to observe metabolic processes in the body as an aid to the diagnosis of disease. 

It detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide (tracer), which is introduced into the body on a biologically active molecule. Three-dimensional images of tracer concentration within the body are then constructed by computer analysis. 

SB/MQ/MG