Structure and Activities of Nuclear Medicine in Kuwait

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The practice of nuclear medicine in Kuwait began in 1965 as a clinic for treating thyroid diseases. The practice developed gradually and until 1981 when the Faculty of Medicine established the Division of Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Radiology, which later became a separate department responsible for establishing and managing the practice in all hospitals of Kuwait. In 1987, a nuclear medicine residency program was begun and it is administered by Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations originally as a 4-year but currently as a 5-year program. Currently there are 11 departments in the ministry of health hospitals staffed by 49 qualified attending physicians, mostly the diplomats of the Kuwait Institute for Medical Specializations nuclear medicine residency program, 4 academic physicians, 2 radiopharmacists, 2 physicists, and 130 technologists. These departments are equipped with 33 dual-head gamma cameras, 10 SPET/CT, 5 PET/CT, 2 cyclotrons, 1 breast-specific gamma imaging, 1 positron-emitting mammography, 10 thyroid uptake units, 8 technegas machines, 7 PET infusion systems, and 8 treadmills. Activities of nuclear medicine in Kuwait include education and training, clinical service, and research. Education includes nuclear medicine technology program in the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, the 5-year residency program, medical school teaching distributed among different modules of the integrated curriculum with 14 didactic lecture, and other teaching sessions in nuclear medicine MSc program, which run concurrently with the first part of the residency program. The team of Nuclear Medicine in Kuwait has been active in research and has published more than 300 paper, 11 review articles, 12 book chapters, and 17 books in addition to 36 grants and 2 patents. A PhD program approved by Kuwait University Council would begin in 2016.

Section snippets

Historic Background

The practice of nuclear medicine in Kuwait began in 1965 by opening a clinic in Department of Medicine in one of the Ministry of Health hospitals. The clinic treated few cases of thyrotoxicosis and thyroid cancer with 131I radioiodide. In 1968, the first well-designed Department of Nuclear Medicine was established in Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) of the ministry of health with the installation of the first rectilinear scanner. In 1972, nuclear medicine team from Poland came to Kuwait

Current Structure of Nuclear Medicine in Kuwait

The current structure of nuclear medicine in Kuwait can be summarized as comprising of an academic department in the university and a Council of Nuclear Medicine in the Ministry of Health that consists of the heads of the departments in the ministry hospitals. Additionally, there is a Faculty of Nuclear Medicine at KIMS responsible for the postgraduate training of physicians in the specialty. The Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine was in charge of the

Clinical Departments

The nuclear medicine facilities provide most of the diagnostic procedures available internationally at highest possible standard. The therapeutic applications still need to be further expanded in the applications other than radioactive iodine therapy.

There are currently 11 nuclear medicine facilities providing clinical services including imaging and nonimaging studies. The department in the main teaching hospital has a particularly advanced nuclear hematology laboratory (Fig. 2). Kuwait is

Staffing

Currently the Departments of Nuclear Medicine in Kuwait are staffed by 49 qualified attending physicians mostly KIMS nuclear Medicine diplomats and 5 academic physicians. There are 2 radiopharmacists, 2 physicists, and 130 technologists distributed among the 11 existing departments.

Equipment

There are currently 33 dual-head gamma cameras distributed among the 11 departments, 10 SPET/CT, 5 PET/CT, 2 cyclotrons, 1 breast-specific gamma imaging (breast-specific gamma imaging), 1 positron-emitting mammography, 10 thyroid uptake units, 8 technegas machines, 7 PET injectors (PET infusion system), and 8 treadmills.

Academic Department

The department was established as an independent one in 1984 and currently staffed with five academic physicians, two radiochemists, one physicist, and one nuclear medicine technology staff. Additionally, there is one teaching assistant, one scientific assistant, and 3 technologists. The department has a recently established cell culture laboratory (Fig. 4) and has access to the Faculty animal facilty with a gamma camera that is being replaced by a three modality scanner for experimental

Faculty of Allied Health Sciences Program

The technology program is a division of the Department of Radiologic Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health administered by its former graduates who are now academic staff of the division after obtaining a PhD degree mostly in United Kingdom. The nuclear medicine technologists in the hospitals of the Department of Nuclear Medicine were also the graduates of the program.

Residency Program

The postgraduate training in Nuclear Medicine of KIMS was started in 1987 and was interrupted during the Iraq invasion in 1990. It

Teaching Nuclear Medicine to Medical Students

The Department of Nuclear Medicine has significant contribution to the fully integrated medical school program. There are 14 didactic lectures in nuclear medicine and many tutorials and practical sessions in the following modules: blood, renal, endocrine, musculoskeletal system, cardiovascular system, and central nervous system. The department produced a book as a short reference for medical students published by Springer.4

The department was also responsible for teaching basic physics to all

Research and Publications

The team of Nuclear Medicine in Kuwait has been active in research and has published more than 300 paper, 11 review articles, and 12 book chapters. The group also have 36 grants and 2 patents. Some of the publications are highlighted and the reviews are referenced.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 Local and regional medical conditions and problems have been studied and novel ideas were also developed and several publications contributed to the growth and development of the specialty

Books

The Kuwait team has published several books in the field of nuclear medicine as detailed in Table 3. It is noteworthy to point out that the Handbook of Radiopharmaceuticals was translated into Chinese, The Pathophysiologic Basis of Nuclear Medicine is in its third edition and because of its popularity, a synopsis has been written and it has also been published by the publisher, Springer. Further, the first edition of Orthopedic Nuclear Medicine was translated into Chinese and is being updated

Awards

Kuwait Nuclear Medicine won several international and local awards and patents.

International

  • (1)

    Gold Medal for Scientific Exhibit Award on Detection of Site of Acute Gastrointestinal Bleeding Using Tc-99m DTPA at 31st Annual Meeting, Society of Nuclear Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA, June 5-8, 1984. Abdel-Dayem HM, Mahajan KK, Ericsson S, Kouris K, and Owunwanne A.

  • (2)

    Gold Medal Scientific Research Award granted by the European Nuclear Medicine Congress, Strasbourg, France, September 1, 1989, to the poster: Experimental study of the renal recovery after relief of complete ureteric

Local

  • (1)

    Best Clinical Sciences Poster Award, on temporal sequence of splenic dysfunction in sickle cell disease. Adekile A, Owunwanne A, Al-Za’abi K, Haider MZ, Tuli M, Al-Mohannadi S, Gopinath S, Mathew M. Sixth Annual Health Sciences Poster Day April 23, 2001, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University.

  • (2)

    Best Postgraduate Resident Poster Award, on Study of brain perfusion deficits in patients with sickle cell disease using Tc-99m HMPAO and SPECT. Al-Kandari F, Syed GM, Marouf R, Owunwanne A. Ninth Annual

Patents

  • (1)

    Al-Saeedi F, Patent number: 8668900. Title: Cancer-imaging agent and method of radioimaging using the same.

  • (2)

    Al-Saeedi F, Patent number: 8314080. Title: Method of treating type I diabetes.

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