clinical imaging sciences centre

PET CT at CISC

Researching here

As a researcher, the Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre is an ideal place to conduct your research and take it forward. This page explains the approval processes and procedures you need to consider when applying to use CISC's facilities.

It is divided into three sections:

before you can start
booking your scans
after you have acquired your data

There is also some information on contacts for those researchers seeking funding.

If you are volunteering for research click here

Before you can start

This is the approvals process before you can book any scanning at CISC.

1) CISC Research and Education Group (REG) approval

2) BSMS Research Governance and Ethics Committee (RGEC) approval

3) NHS Ethics approval

4) Scan costing proforma completed

5) Scanning protocol document completed

6) ARSAC certificate obtained

7) IR(ME)R regulations conformity confirmation

8) Consent forms, information sheets and finance statement completed

If your research project involves scanning of healthy volunteers and/ or patients, and you would like to use the facilities at CISC you will be required to complete the this documentation.

Please note that a number of these items can take some time to attain. It is advisable to apply concurrently for REG, RGEC, NHS Ethics & ARSAC to avoid any delay in the timescale of your project.

1) CISC Research and Education Group (REG) approval

Click on the grey text to download documents:

If you do not have grant funding you may want to consider whether your would be eligible for a pilot study:

Pilot study policy

Send the completed project proposal form to Pat Butler at p.butler@bsms.ac.uk before the cut-off date for the next meeting. The research and education group is chaired by Professor Kevin Davies.

2) BSMS Research Governance and Ethics Committee (RGEC) approval

Click on the grey text to download documents:

Please contact Scott Harfield at scott.harfield@bsuh.nhs.uk for information and assistance. The RGEC is also chaired by Professor Kevin Davies

For information on how CISC approaches the discovery of incidental findings, please contact a member of the CISC team.

3) NHS Ethics approval

This will be necessary if your project involves patients &/or administration of medicinal products or contrast to volunteers

Go to National Research Ethics Service website for how to apply and for a list of the local REC offices, see nres.npsa.nhs.uk
Further assistance can be found at myresearchproject.org.uk

4) Scan costing proforma

For funded projects, a complete the Scan costing proforma and send to Stuart Welling at sjw@cooden.plus.com for confirmation of the cost of scans requested.

5) Completing the scanning protocol

Complete the Scanning Protocol Template Guideline. (RES07)

If you require assistance please contact a member of the radiographic staff.

MR Scanning Exploratory form (RES14) needs to be filled in if advised to do so by a member of the radiographic staff.

If your project also includes the administration of a radioisotope (PET-CT) or ionising radiation (CT / CT Perfusion) you will, in addition, require an:

6) ARSAC Certificate

Applying for ARSAC Certificate (if your project involves PET)

Go to www.arsac.org.uk for more information and to download the application form.
The certificate has to be applied for by a Nuclear Medicine Consultant on behalf of the investigator.
For research projects the PI is expected to fill in Section B4 and provide a one page summary. (See Section B4, 4.4)
For further details please contact Pat Butler at p.butler@bsms.ac.uk.
The certificate involves RPA (Radiation Protection Advisor) and MPE (Medical Physics Expert) approval. The RPA is Jil Segerman at jil.segerman@bsuh.nhs.uk, the MPE is Dr John Lutkin at john.lutkin@bsuh.nhs.uk. It is advisable to involve the RPA and MPE at an early stage for advice.

7) Confirmation that your project conforms with IR(ME)R regulations

CISC needs to ensure that the project protocol conforms with IR(ME)R documentation. At an early stage please contact Jan Bush at j.bush@bsms.ac.uk

8) Consent forms, information sheets and finance statement

Before you will be able to book any scans CISC will also require copies of the following additional documents:

Consent form (RES12) – a copy of the consent form given to participants to sign.
Information sheet (RES13) – a copy of the MRI / CT / PET-CT project information given to participants.
Finance statement – Confirmation of funding status written on headed paper and signed by the Principal Investigator (PI).

Booking your scans

Send an e-mail with your request to cisc@bsms.ac.uk
A member of the radiographer team will get in touch with you to discuss your requirements.
To ensure you maximise the time you have booked on the MRI scanner it is advisable to ask the participant to have filled in the MRI Safety Questionnaire (RES08) before they arrive.

After you have acquired your data

What happens to your data? All scan data will be placed in the relevant Group AET (drop box). It is the researcher’s responsibility to retrieve their data within 30 days. After this time it will be deleted from the drop box. However, a copy of all data will be kept in the CISC archive.

You will get your data on a CD / DVD. This is set to change so that you will be able to access your data over the network. Please speak to Pat Butler at p.butler@bsms.ac.uk for details.

CISC Image Analysis Workstation: The Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre runs a Linux-based image analysis server (called cisc0) that hosts a suite of image analysis programs that you might find useful. The service is available to all users of the CISC and, provided the load on the system is not great, it will be provided free of charge. Click here for more information

Need funding?

For researchers seeking funding, early contact with Sarah McDonald, Research & Enterprise, University of Sussex at sarah.mcdonald@sussex.ac.uk is strongly advised.