PET-CT Department Design
A PET-CT department is not one room — it is a controlled sequence: hot lab, uptake rooms, and the scan room itself, each with its own shielding and access-control requirements under AERB. Get the sequence wrong and patient flow, radiation safety, or both suffer.
Why PET-CT is a department, not a room
In CT, the radiation source is the machine, and it stops when the exposure stops. In PET-CT the patient is injected with a radiopharmaceutical and becomes a source themselves — one that walks around your department for the duration of the uptake period. Everything about the layout follows from that single fact.
The hot lab is the department core
Radiopharmaceutical receipt, handling and dose preparation happen in a shielded hot lab. Layout, shielding and waste handling are built to AERB nuclear medicine requirements, which are not the same as generic diagnostic radiology shielding. Storage, dose drawing, transport to the injection point and decay storage for waste all need designing as a workflow, not as a room with lead in the walls.
Uptake rooms and controlled patient flow
After injection, patients rest during the uptake period — and they are radioactive throughout it. Uptake rooms need individual shielding, and the route between injection, uptake and the scanner has to keep injected patients separated from staff, from waiting patients, and from each other.
This is as much a layout problem as a shielding one. A department that shields every room correctly but routes injected patients back through the waiting area has not solved it.
The scan room itself
Structural load for the PET-CT gantry, shielding calculated for the specific isotope and workload, HVAC and earthing held to the equipment tolerance — the same rigour as our CT room planning work, with nuclear medicine shielding layered on top.
AERB runs alongside construction, not after it
A PET-CT department needs AERB approval before it can operate, and the requirements bite at design stage — shielding thickness, layout, access control and waste handling are all decided before a wall goes up. We coordinate documentation and shielding certification through the build so licensing is not the bottleneck at handover. See our AERB consultation page.
The rest of the department
- Reception, waiting and patient preparation areas
- Injection room positioned for the shortest controlled route to uptake
- Decay storage and shielded waste handling
- Staff areas positioned clear of controlled routes
- Control room, reporting and console space
- Flooring, finishes and interiors throughout the department
PET-CT design, answered.
How is PET-CT shielding different from CT shielding?
Do we need AERB approval before or after construction?
How many uptake rooms do we need?
Can PET-CT go into an existing CT room?
Continue reading.
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