Solving difficult site problems for MRI and PET.

Many of our most sophisticated hospitals are located in urban areas where available land is at a minimum. Consequently ideal sites for diagnostic equipment like PET, medical cyclotrons, and MRI scanners are not available. These sites require special structural considerations, shielding provisions, and construction access. Due to the processes involved in PET and MRI scanning, shielding for radiation, radio frequency, and magnetic fields are required in order to protect adjacent functions. The process of evaluating potential sites and coordinating the design and construction requires a higher degree of planning, management, and technical considerations in order to succeed. The challenge is then to handle these difficult project aspects as well is all of the normal design considerations. Project teams often involve administration, physicians, physicists, hot lab technicians, equipment manufacturers, architects, and engineers and must be well coordinated in order to solve all of the design and technical issues. The process described here has been developed through a series of project efforts. Included in this discussion are two sample projects from our work at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.