High glazed ceilings, palms, blooming flowerbeds, cozy cafes and shops are not part of a fairy-tale castle or some fantastic greenhouse. They belong to the Pompidou Hospital in Paris which we, a group of Ukrainian doctors, visited to learn how PET centres and radiology departments operate. The hospital is huge and hosts people with various diseases but the grief seems to disperse in the atmosphere created by flower scents and transparent ceilings. 

A PET/CT centre presented by our French colleagues performs the latest diagnostic procedures enabling a doctor to detect location of the tiniest tumour and its metabolism. The efforts and ceaseless work of the leading cancer and diagnostics specialists supported by the Foundation for Development of Ukraine will establish similar centres in Ukraine too.

Members of delegation asked a lot of questions about specific characteristics of PET/CT premise, the facilities used, a staff schedule, criteria of patient selection, etc. Our French colleagues eagerly gave detailed answers.

Next day we moved to Germany to visit cutting-edge radiology departments at university hospitals of Erlangen and Heidelberg. We also went to a private hospital Munich Cyber Knife Centre as well as medical facilities plant in Kimnat to see production of the state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, including PET/CT and linear accelerators. The visit to BrainLAB Company (Munich), which is a pioneer in radiosurgery, completed the trip.

Coming back to Ukraine, we are full of plans, expectations and are grateful to those people who give us hope.

By T.Solovko
Doctor of medicine,
Head of radiodiagnostics department
Kyiv National Institute of Cancer of the Ministry of Public Health of Ukraine