A new PET-CT center has opened at Clínica de Mérida, with a scanner described as the first of its kind in Southeast Mexico. For patients who once traveled out of state for these cancer scans, the trip just got a lot shorter.Photo: Gobierno de Yucatán
Patients in Yucatán who need a PET-CT scan, one of the most detailed tools doctors use to find and track cancer, no longer have to leave the state to get one.
Clínica de Mérida, one of the city’s longest-running private hospitals, has opened the Centro PET SCAN Dr. Luis Alberto Navarrete Jaimes. The center is built around a 128-slice PET-CT scanner, described as the first of its kind in Southeast Mexico.
The hospital invested more than MX$90 million (about US$4.9 million) in the project.
Gov. Joaquín Díaz Mena attended the opening and praised the private investment.
“Investing in equipment of this kind is a bet on the health of our people and on the future of the state,” the governor said.
Until now, patients in the region who needed this type of study often had to travel to other states.
How a PET-CT works
A PET-CT combines two imaging tests in a single session.
The PET part, short for positron emission tomography, shows how active cells are. The CT part, or computed tomography, shows the shape and structure of organs, bones and tissue. Together, they can reveal changes that may not show up on a regular X-ray or CT scan alone.
Doctors use the scans mainly to detect and evaluate cancer and to see how patients respond to treatment. Depending on the case, they can also help diagnose some brain and heart conditions.
According to the American Cancer Society, a PET scan involves a small amount of radioactive tracer, and patients are usually asked not to eat for several hours beforehand. The organization notes that PET scans may find cancer earlier than other imaging tests.
Part of a bigger health push
Díaz Mena said private investment like this complements public projects, including the new Agustín O’Horán General Hospital and other hospitals being built with the federal government.
“The health of our people needs everyone’s effort,” he said, naming the public and private sectors, universities and the doctors training in the state.
Clínica de Mérida was founded in 1961 by a group of young doctors and is among the city’s four major private hospitals, which draw patients from across the region and abroad.
Its director general, Juan Carlos Navarrete Jaimes, attended the opening, along with Mérida Mayor Cecilia Patrón Laviada; Jorge Alberto Osorno Gómez, president of the Yucatán College of Physicians; and Mauricio Sauri Vivas, the center’s radiologist.
The new center opened weeks after a separate milestone. On Oct. 8, officials inaugurated what they called the Southeast’s first cyclotron, in Dzununcán, in the municipality of Mérida. The machine produces radiopharmaceuticals, the radioactive tracers that PET-CT scans rely on. Because those tracers break down quickly, producing them locally reduces the region’s dependence on shipments from elsewhere.
For the growing number of foreign residents and medical travelers in Mérida, the new scanner adds another high-end service to a city already known for private health care.
Fast Facts
- What: Centro PET SCAN Dr. Luis Alberto Navarrete Jaimes
- Where: Clínica de Mérida, Calle 32, Colonia García Ginerés, Mérida
- Equipment: 128-slice PET-CT scanner
- Investment: More than MX$90 million (about US$4.9 million)
- Main uses: Cancer detection and treatment follow-up
- Other uses: Some brain and heart studies
- Prices and insurance: Contact the clinic directly
With reporting from La Jornada Maya and Por Esto!, with background from Diario de Yucatán and the American Cancer Society
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