CASPER — On the screen, the glowing images look like something out of a science fiction movie.

But for the doctors at Rocky Mountain Oncology in Casper, they offer clues that can help find tumors that might have otherwise gone undetected.

The images come courtesy of the cancer center’s new PET/CT scanner, a room-sized device that allows physicians to study a patient’s anatomy and metabolism at the same time.

Doctors say the machine — the first of its kind in Wyoming — provides them with a tool to locate cancer in ways that once required patients to visit another state. They expect the technology will also save lives by offering quicker feedback on how a cancer has responded to treatment.

“That’s been the most amazing thing for me since I’ve been working here, to see the technology and the treatment we have available right here,” said Eileen Ford, who handles clinical education for Rocky Mountain Oncology. “People don’t need to travel hundreds of miles outside the state, and be away from home and family and all of that, to get their treatment. Because a lot of times, it’s a very long course of treatment and the closer you are to home and family, the more beneficial that is.”

Two tools in one

The scanner, which went into use last month, is actually two imaging units housed in one device. One unit performs CT scans of a patient’s anatomy, while the other uses PET technology to get a picture of metabolic activity in the body.

CT scan, short for computed tomography, use X-rays to create anatomical images of a patient’s insides. In comparison, the PET (positron emission tomography) scanner measures metabolic activity.

Because cancers metabolize sugar at a faster rate than healthy cells, doctors can use PET scans to find tumors that might not have shown up in a CT scan.

“The faster a cancer is growing, the more activity we have on the scanner,” said Dr. Robert Tobin, medical director at Rocky Mountain Oncology.

Computers take data from both scans and combine them into one image that allows doctors to get a better sense of what’s going on inside the body.

“When we do the two together, we get the ‘where it is’ information from the CT scan and the ‘what it is’ information from the PET scan,” said John Mastin, a nuclear med tech who performs scans at the oncology center.

On average, the scans take about 23 minutes. Patients lie still on the device as a tech like Mastin monitors progress from an adjacent room.

The process is painless and the images can be interpreted within 24 hours. Then the oncologist will sit down with a patient, review the images and discuss an appropriate therapy.

Multiple uses

The imaging technology serves multiple purposes, Tobin said. It can be used to find cancer and show whether it has spread to other parts of the body.

A standard CT scanner has a 60 percent accuracy rate when it comes to determining whether a tumor is active at a given location, he said. For a PET/CT device, that rate jumps to roughly 85 percent.

The device helps doctors determine the appropriate treatment for a patient. For example, if the scan shows a cancer has spread, a physician may recommend chemotherapy rather than surgery.

Doctors also use the scanner to assess how a patient has responded to treatment.

“If our treatment is not being successful, we need to quickly move to a different treatment option for that particular patient,” Tobin said. “And that is the advantage of this metabolic scanner: We can determine if our treatment is successful or not in a more timely fashion.”

That, in turn, may save more lives.

“I think we will be using this diagnostic tool to improve cancer care rates both in the short term and the long term,” he said.

The device does have trouble with slow-growing cancers, like prostate cancer, and isn’t necessary when the disease is small and localized. Still, Tobin estimates 20 to 50 percent of cancer patients would benefit from a PET/CT scan sometime during the course of their treatment.

“It has been a major advance in cancer management, and we’ve now made a major step in convenience to the patients in central Wyoming,” he said.

PET technology has been around for several years, but until last month, patients who needed a scan had to travel outside Wyoming or wait for a mobile device that Tobin said is less accurate.

“A lot of these people are very ill and frightened, and they have a lot of things happening,” said Ford, the clinical educator. “And so then, to have to go off site and travel several hours someplace else to get any type of treatment is a hardship.”

Rocky Mountain Oncology, which is Wyoming’s largest cancer center, is now performing four to eight scans a day, two or three times a week. The technology is available to patients throughout Wyoming and is covered by most private insurance, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, Tobin said.

The center is marketing the scanner to doctors across Wyoming, and Tobin said he expects surrounding communities will send patients to Casper instead of out of state.

“I think our timing is very good,” he said. “We have a very modern, progressive cancer center here in Wyoming, and we want to stay ahead of the curve as far as offering the best treatment practices to the patients of Wyoming.”

Contact Joshua Wolfson at josh.wolfson@trib.com or 307-266-0582.