Valley Hospital Plans for PET/CT Scan Unit Approved

Valley Hospital will add a new mobile PET/CT scan unit to its Paramus campus after the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved its plans Thursday.

Ron French, director of facilities management at the hospital's Robert and Audrey Luckow Pavilion, said the PET scan, short for positron emission topography, will help make cancer treatment less invasive by giving doctors a three-dimensional image of organs and tissue.

"We'll be able to predict, believe it or not, cancer starting—and where," he said. "And then treat it."

The scanner will complement the hospital's gamma knife center, where doctors will use radiation to treat certain brain conditions without performing surgery. The new scanner, coupled with the gamma knife, represents a $7 million investment for the hospital, French said.

The PET/CT scanner will be housed in a trailer that will connect to the existing MRI building at the hospital via a covered walkway. The trailer will sit on a 480 square foot concrete slab 45 feet away from Valley Health Plaza, the road running to the southeast of the Luckow building.

However, the Borough code requires a minimum front yard of 100 feet from roadways, a variance the Board granted after Andrew Missey, an engineer for Valley Hospital, said the addition would be well hidden by a row of white pine trees. Missey said the trailer's location was chosen out of convenience and necessity.

"There really is not any other location that would serve the hospital's needs, specifically with respect to being close to the MRI building and other cancer care functions," he said.

After the slab is built, the unit will be pulled to the Paramus campus by a truck and hooked up to the Luckow building. The unit is already at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, French said.

To make way for the slab, about 15 feet east of the MRI building, the hospital plans to clear a sidewalk and replace it with a barrier-free walkway that leads to the PET/CT scan unit. The trailer will have a lift for wheelchair access.

With approval from the Board, French said the hospital would install the unit as soon as possible.