Arabian Post Staff -Dubai
The PET/CT service operates within the hospital’s Nuclear Medicine Department and is integrated with Burjeel Cancer Institute, linking imaging findings with multidisciplinary oncology teams. The hospital said the arrangement is intended to allow patients to complete specialised scans in Sharjah rather than travel to another emirate for the procedure.
The centre uses a GE Discovery IQ PET/CT system, which combines functional information from positron emission tomography with anatomical detail from computed tomography. The system is designed to support cancer detection and staging, assessment of treatment response, identification of recurrence and quantitative imaging used in clinical decision-making.
Burjeel said high-sensitivity detector technology allows faster scan acquisition, while lower-dose imaging can reduce radiation exposure. The system also uses Q-Clear reconstruction technology to improve image quality and quantitative accuracy, features that can be important when clinicians compare scans over the course of treatment.
Dr Firuz Ibrahim, head of the Nuclear Medicine Department at Burjeel Specialty Hospital in Sharjah, said the service would support timely diagnosis, accurate staging and assessment of patients’ response to therapy while maintaining a focus on safety and comfort.
The department offers 18F-FDG PET/CT, commonly used for staging and monitoring treatment response across a range of cancers. It also provides PSMA PET/CT for prostate cancer and DOTA-peptide PET/CT for neuroendocrine tumours, along with specialised tracers used in evaluating selected breast, brain, pancreatic and gastric cancers, sarcomas, parathyroid adenoma and cognitive impairment.
PET/CT differs from conventional imaging because it can show metabolic or biochemical activity alongside structural changes. In oncology, that combination can help doctors establish the extent of disease, identify active tumour sites and determine whether treatment is working. Such scans are also used in some patients to investigate suspected recurrence after therapy.
The Sharjah service is connected with Burjeel Cancer Institute’s broader oncology network, where imaging findings can be reviewed alongside medical, surgical and radiation oncology assessments. Burjeel said this integration is intended to support coordinated treatment decisions from diagnosis through follow-up.
Professor Humaid Al Shamsi, chief executive officer of Burjeel Cancer Institute, said PET/CT has a role across the cancer pathway, including diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, response assessment and detection of recurrence. He said combining molecular imaging with multidisciplinary expertise could help clinicians develop treatment plans tailored to individual patients.
The Nuclear Medicine Department will also work with the institute’s team in Abu Dhabi to provide access to targeted radionuclide therapies. These include radioactive iodine treatment for thyroid cancer, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy for neuroendocrine tumours, Lutetium-177 PSMA therapy for advanced prostate cancer and selective internal radiation therapy for liver cancer and liver metastases.
Targeted radionuclide therapies use radioactive substances designed to accumulate in particular tissues or bind to specific molecular targets. Their use depends on the cancer type, disease stage, previous treatment, imaging findings and clinical suitability, with therapy delivered under specialist supervision.
The hospital said diagnostic and therapeutic work is guided by National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical guidelines and standards from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. These frameworks cover areas including imaging protocols, radiopharmaceutical use, interpretation and radiation protection. The Sharjah unit’s collaboration with specialists in Abu Dhabi gives clinicians a pathway to consider imaging-linked therapies when indicated for eligible patients.
The hospital said the new service operates in line with requirements of the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation and internationally recognised radiation-safety standards. Nuclear medicine services are subject to regulatory controls because they involve radioactive materials used for diagnostic imaging and, in some cases, treatment.
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