The company PET-Technology has plans to build a positron emission tomography center in the Tambov region, NanoNewsNet reports.

An agreement on the project has reportedly been signed by Tambov Governor Oleg Betin and PET-Technology CEO Yury Pronin.

Positron emission tomography is one of the newest radiotracer-based diagnostics methods enablin three-dimensional reconstruction of processes that occur in the human body.

The method is widely spread in diagnostics of oncologic diseases. PET allows accurate diagnostics of small tumors that don’t clinically manifest themselves and helps tell whether a tumor is benign or malignant. PET can also be used to diagnose heart diseases (cardiac muscle parts with disturbed blood supply) and brain diseases (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, trauma effects, ischemic attacks, etc.).

Currently most PET centers work in large cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

According to Governor Betin, when the PET center is built positron emission tomography services will be included into a regional program that grants state guarantees to entities providing free medical aid to Tambov regional populations. The center is exected to increase the quality of early diagnostics of malignant tumors and blood-circulation organ diseases, resulting in a lower mortality and disability rate.

The PET center expects to process 125 patients monthly or 1,500 annually. Under the project, a diagnostics department equipped with a PET/KT-scanner will be built at a regional clinical hospital, and y-tracers will be supplied from Lipetsk.

The investor estimates project costs at about $20m, including $6.7m on construction and $13.4m on equipment.