Facilities and Resources
Overview
Brigham and Women’s Hospital is a 708-bed medical complex. A 13-floor Cardiovascular
building (Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center) houses the CV imaging program since
May 2008. This includes 136 inpatient beds and the outpatient clinics for Cardiovascular
Medicine, Vascular Surgery and Cardiac Surgery, an integrated Noninvasive Cardiovascular
Imaging Center, and Interventional services. The Noninvasive Cardiovascular Imaging Center is
a fully integrated state-of-the-art facility providing multi-modality, multi-disciplinary imaging care in a patient-centric manner. The Imaging Center has approximately 22,600 square feet in area and includes general patient areas, imaging laboratories, image processing areas, and dedicated reading room.
The laboratory includes two dedicated D-SPECT systems (Spectrum Dynamics), and two PET/CT
64 systems (GE DRX/VCT, and DSTE/VCT). The laboratory is fully integrated within the Nuclear
Medicine division and has access to additional imaging systems in the main hospital building
including 4 dual-head SPECT systems (Siemens e-CAM), and a SPECT/CT system (Siemens
Symbia T6). The nuclear cardiology laboratory has a dedicated hot lab for handling radiopharmaceutical doses in the Cardiovascular Center, and a cGMP central radiopharmacy for
the preparation of SPECT and PET radiopharmaceuticals.
Nuclear Cardiology
Cardiac CT
The laboratory includes two dedicated CT scanners: a state-of-the-art 320-Aquillon One system (Toshiba), and a Definition Dual Source CT system (Siemens). The laboratory is fully integrated
with the CT division and has access to two additional CT64 (Toshiba Aquillon, and Siemens
Sensation 64) and another Siemens Definition Dual Source CT located in the main hospital
building.
The laboratory includes a dedicated 3T Siemens MRI system. The laboratory is fully integrated
with the MR Division and has access to four additional imaging areas within the hospital campus all available for clinical and research use that include seven additional MR systems distributed as follows: 1) the L1 level of the main hospital building has one 3T GE MRI, one 3T Siemens MRI, and one 1.5T GE MRI; 2) the main “Pike” has two 1.5T GE MRIs; 3) the Lee Bell Center for Breast Imaging has one 3T Siemens MRI; and 4) the LMRC Building (Longwood Medical Research Center at 221 Longwood Avenue) has two 3T GE MRI magnets (one long bore and one short bore) and one 1.5 T long bore GE MRI magnet (In 2008, the 3T GE long bore MRI will be replaced by a Siemens 3T MRI system). All MR systems are fully supported with inpatient and outpatient facilities, nursing and technologist staff. A full-time clinical PhD MR Physicist provides clinical MRI protocol development, and QA and implementation support. Imaging results are interpreted at electronic reading stations over a clinical PACS with interconnectivity with advanced Radiology and Hospital Information Systems.
Cardiac
MRI
Echo
The laboratory includes two dedicated CT scanners: a state-of-the-art 320-Aquillon One system (Toshiba), and a Definition Dual Source CT system (Siemens). The laboratory is fully integrated
with the CT division and has access to two additional CT64 (Toshiba Aquillon, and Siemens
Sensation 64) and another Siemens Definition Dual Source CT located in the main hospital
building.
The Exercise Testing Laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility that has been designed to
accommodate an extensive range of imaging and exercise modalities. It includes eight 170 sq ft
rooms, each equipped with a GE Case station and a GE T2100 treadmill. The Exercise
Laboratory also includes 3 Corival electric cycle ergometers and one arm ergometer that can be
used instead of the treadmill in any of the exercise rooms based on the needs/capacities of the
patient. Equipment also includes two Acuson Sequoia 512 echocardiography (permanently
available for exercise and dobutamine echoes), three MedGraphics Ultima Cardiopulmonary
carts, and one Cambridge Heart HearTwave II Microvolt T-Wave Alternans Systems. Each of the
8 exercise stations is sized and organized to accommodate any of the exercise testing modalities as well as any related testing option (perfusion injection, chemical stress tests, stress
echocardiography, cardiopulmonary testing, or microvolt T-wave alternans) and/or combination of these modalities. The laboratory is also fundamentally organized and structured to optimize clinical and research priorities, including more than 20 hospital computers each electronically linked to clinical and research databases and an automated research database (designed to capture exercise, cardiopulmonary, and imaging data). Furthermore, two PAX workstations are situated within the lab (in its 325 sq ft workroom) as clinical, research, and teaching resources, both in addition to the primary clinical PAX workstations situated in separate Echo and Nuclear reading rooms. Likewise, ample workspace, computers, and touchdown space exist for supervising physicians, exercise physiologists, nurses, nuclear perfusionists, and technical staff involved with all inpatient and outpatient tests.
Exercise Testing Laboratory
Cardiac Imaging Core Laboratory (CICL)
The Cardiac Imaging Core Laboratory (CICL) is an academically-oriented clinical research
organization that provides echocardiographic imaging analysis for large cardiovascular clinical
studies. The CICL experience includes serving as the high throughput core echocardiography
laboratory for over 35 clinical studies, the majority of which have focused on outcomes of patients with or at risk for heart failure (HF). Thus, CICL investigators have extensive experience studying the clinical and prognostic importance of echo measurements across the spectrum of normal myocardial function to severe HF, including hypertensive heart disease, post-MI populations, and overt HF.
The Nuclear Cardiology Core Laboratory is an academically-oriented core laboratory that
provides nuclear cardiology imaging analysis for translational cardiovascular clinical studies. The
laboratory experience includes quantitative image analysis for over 20 clinical studies involving
both SPECT and PET, the majority of which have focused primarily on diagnostic and outcomes
studies in coronary artery disease (CAD). Thus, nuclear cardiology core laboratory investigators
have extensive experience studying the clinical and prognostic importance of nuclear cardiology
measurements across the spectrum of CAD.
Nuclear Cardiology Core Laboratory
Cyclotron and Radiochemistry
Laboratory
The cyclotron and radiochemistry laboratory are housed in a new 2,400 SF building within the
BWH campus. The facility is designed as clean room environment compatible with cGMP
manufacturing procedures. The cyclotron is a General Electric PET-Trace dual particle
accelerator (16.5 MeV protons and 8 MeV deuterons) equipped with 8 targets for production of
C-11, N-13, O-15, and F-18 (both fluoride ion and molecular fluorine gas). This instrument is
capable of irradiating eight targets (two simultaneously) with 16.5 MeV protons/deuterons. The
cyclotron laboratory is equipped with computer controlled fully automated radiopharmaceutical production systems for producing routine positron emitting compounds and gaseous radioactive effluent monitoring systems.
Annual CV Imaging Research Day
- All
- Item