Hidex prides itself on maintaining long-term customer relationships, and our collaboration with Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) goes back to 2019 when they sought to replace their existing gamma counters.
The Hidex Automatic Gamma Counter is widely used at universities around the world for research efforts in nuclear medicine and radiopharmaceuticals. Our collaboration with AUH continues strongly as they currently use four Hidex AMG counters.
Why did you choose Hidex?
When medical physicist Ole Munk started investigating a suitable replacement for the department's old counters, Hidex's name appeared in the search results. Upon contacting Hidex, a discussion began with Hidex's AMG specialist regarding Aarhus's specific needs for their automatic gamma counter. As the department already had its own systems in place that worked well, they requested a small alteration in the Hidex AMG's NaI crystal detector system. Though customisation is not a standard practice for Hidex instruments, the request was acknowledged, and efforts were made to find an appropriate solution. When asked about the changes they noticed after replacing their old instruments, Ole stated:
"Hidex AMG's user interface is much more to my liking than other gamma counters available on the market."
How are Hidex gamma counters being used at your facility?
At present, four Hidex AMGs are housed at AUH's Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET. The department specializes in maintaining a close interaction between their clinical and research activities.
One of the department's many goals is studying PET tracers, with over 100 PET tracers studied in the past two decades. Their continuous in-house development of PET tracers, among other scientific achievements, has positioned AUH's Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET at the forefront of innovation in the industry.
We spoke to Technologist Mie Ringgaard Dollerup about the work her laboratory is involved in. Currently, the AMG counters at the Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET are being used in their blood analysis laboratory and in their preclinical laboratory for biodistribution studies of small animal models. The laboratory is involved in projects evaluating PET tracers for oncology, neurology, and cardiology, which require several laboratory methods to measure the activity in blood.
How have you accommodated the Hidex AMGs among multiple users?
The devices are being used by more than 10 users, often working on different projects, using different radioactive tracers such as 11C, 68Ga, and 18F. Mie has prepared operating protocols for the instruments that are used by technologists and chemists with varying degrees of knowledge on the instrument. AUH and the technical service staff have also gone the extra mile in learning how to service the gamma counters in-house, ensuring that the four devices are well maintained.
