CANCER and cardiac patients in Ipswich can now be diagnosed quicker and easier by one of the worlds most advanced machines.Patients at Ipswich Hospital can now be scanned by the new Gamma Camera, a state of the art diagnostic machine which can give doctors a better picture about what is wrong quicker which in turn will cut waiting times.

By Jessica Nicholls

CANCER and cardiac patients in Ipswich can now be diagnosed quicker and easier by one of the worlds most advanced machines.

Patients at Ipswich Hospital can now be scanned by the new Gamma Camera, a state of the art diagnostic machine which can give doctors a better picture about what is wrong quicker which in turn will cut waiting times.

The £400,000 machine is due to be unveiled on Thursday by Ipswich Town chairman David Sheepshanks, but has already been up and running for around three weeks.

The machine is also used to detect a wide range of illnesses for patients both young and old, but the main two groups to use it are those with cancer or cardiac problems.

It can deliver a detailed picture of how various organs are working for example, how much blood the heart is able to pump or how well the kidneys are working.

As the new machine is dual headed rather than single (like the old one) the camera can scan both back and front at the same time, which cuts down on imaging times making it more comfortable for the patient and also allows more patients to be seen in any one day.

With the old camera, very ill or disabled patients may not have been able to be imaged because it was not flexible enough, but the new one allows that.

Chief technician in the Nuclear Medicine department, Celia Steward said: "One patient we had may not have been able to have had the tests at all because he was so ill.

"But with the new camera we were able to image him directly from his bed."

Other benefits since the camera has been up and running include a group of cardiac patients whose doctors now have better information on how there hearts are working because of improved imaging.

n.

As well as the new machine, artist Jason Chapman has been let loose in the department to paint a mural giving patients something to focus on while they are receiving treatment.

Patients and other members of the public were consulted about what they would like to see in the mural and nearly all of their ideas will feature in it.

The mural is also due to be unveiled on Thursday.