World's rarest PET spotted in South exhibit hall

The world's rarest pet was sighted this week among the technical exhibits in McCormick Place South. Just behind the cafe, housed in a cage the size of a steamer trunk, was a Geoffrey's cat, or in this case, a Geoffrey's kitten.

The Geoffrey's cat, named after the 19th century naturalist Geoffrey St. Hilaire, is found throughout southern South America, east of the Andes and as far south as the Straits of Magellan. It is rarely found at RSNA meetings.

The pet was the clever marketing idea of Gregory Pape, founder and president of Medical Outsourcing Services (MOS), a Midwestern mobile imaging company that possesses one of the world's rarest PET modalities.

MOS was the first provider in the world to install the Siemens ECAT Accel LSO in a mobile unit, said director of sales Terry Costin. The company also has the GE Advance NXi in their fleet. There are few of these machines in service anywhere, and none in mobile operation. MOS has two in its medical coaches, traveling on weekly routes among the 40 or so small community hospitals the company serves in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin.

"We have both PETs operating in our fleet," Costin said. "This is unique to MOS, as no other mobile providers have this capability. So if a system goes down, we can provide customers with the same level of service - not an older, slower PET system."

According to Costin, MOS is also the first mobile imaging firm to deploy the Siemens e.Soft PET/Fusion workstation and the GE Entegra PET/Fusion software in all four of their distinctive green mobile medical coaches.

Animal rights activists needn't be concerned. The kitten was cared for by a professional animal handler.