ST. PETERSBURG, June 21 (RIA Novosti) – Medical centers equipped with nuclear imaging and surgical devices to provide early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and heart disease, two major causes of death in Russia, will open this year in five cities across the country, the head of the state nanotech corporation said Friday.
“We are talking about state-of-the-art equipment that makes it possible to diagnose a disease at super-early stages and treat it using either conventional methods or nuclear medical means … that do not require [traditional] surgical intervention,” Rusnano CEO Anatoly Chubais told the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The opening of the centers, in Ufa, Lipetsk, Oryol, Tambov and Bryansk, is being supported by PET Technology, which provides financing to Rusnano. “PET” stands for “positron emission tomography,” a nuclear imaging technique that uses gamma ray detection to map areas of the body.
PET Technology chief Denis Butsayev told the forum that “we are trying to bring down state costs for the treatment of such patients at later stages of illness.”
Rusnano’s Chubais noted that despite potential support from private businesses, such projects would not succeed without backing from regional authorities.
