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BUSINESS NEWS - For Dr Marguerite Morkel, nuclear medicine is more than a career. It is a family legacy spanning generations.
That legacy continues to grow with the relocation of the practice to the new Mediclinic George facility, expanding access to world-class diagnostic imaging and specialised treatments for patients in the Garden Route and Southern Cape.
The practice was established by her father, Dr Heinz Morkel, at Mediclinic Panorama in Cape Town in 1992, and expanded to the Southern Cape with a branch at the former Mediclinic George building in 2000. Her mother, Dr Annemi Klopper, later joined the practice and was instrumental in its growth.
After completing her specialist training in nuclear medicine, Dr Marguerite joined the practice in 2016.
"Unlike conventional imaging, which primarily shows what the body looks like, nuclear medicine shows how the body is working," she explains.
"Small amounts of specially designed radioactive tracers are administered to the patient. These tracers travel to specific organs or tissues, allowing us to see how they are functioning and to identify disease at a very early stage, often before structural changes become visible on other scans."
Dr Marguerite Morkel
Nuclear medicine can assess the function of organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys and thyroid, and plays an important role in diagnosing and managing a wide range of conditions, including cancers such as prostate cancer.
The practice recently relocated to the new Mediclinic George facility, a move that has significantly expanded its service offering.
Previously, patients requiring advanced imaging for certain soft-tissue tumours often had to travel to Cape Town to access specialised equipment at the practice's Panorama branch.
The new facility has enabled the installation of a state-of-the-art GE camera with SPECT/CT technology. This combines SPECT imaging with a low-dose CT scan, allowing specialists to correlate and localise organ function with detailed anatomical information.
The new GE SPECT/CT gamma camera.
The upgraded facilities have expanded the range of specialised services available in George.
In addition to advanced imaging for thyroid disease, prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumours, patients now have access to purpose-built isolation rooms at Mediclinic George, allowing certain radioactive therapies to be safely administered on site.
Looking ahead, the practice is preparing for the launch of a PET/CT centre at the new 1 on York lifestyle development, expected to open during the fourth quarter of the year.
The service will further improve access to advanced cancer imaging for patients in the Garden Route and Southern Cape.
Dr Marguerite says the expansion represents an important step in making advanced nuclear medicine services more accessible to patients closer to home, reducing the need to travel long distances for specialised diagnostic imaging and treatment.
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