News 
Marquis Medical LLC- Press Release- News and Events- Now Servicing GE & Shimadzu Medical Imaging Products
10/19/2009
Marquis Medical, LLC expands its extraordinary service of Siemens PET & PET/CT imaging equipment to the GE PET & PET/CT and Shimadzu product market. With the addition of several certified engineers with extensive GE and Shimadzu product knowledge, Marquis Medical, LLC now has the capabilities to service and install GE and Siemens PET/CT scanners as well as GE, Siemens, and Shimadzu general and specialized x-ray. Marquis Medical’s excellent track record for service on Siemens PET & PET/CT will serve as its model for expansion into GE PET & PET/CT and Shimadzu medical imaging equipment. Inquire about products Marquis Medical, LLC can service for you at 1-866-645-7457.
Marquis Medical: "Quite a Healthy Reputation"
08/17/2009
It is with great pleasure I send you this e-mail. I have been a nuclear medicine technologist for 12 years, I am also an instructor, this has afforded me the opportunity to interact with individuals from all walks of life. This encounter with Kyle Krause is one that will go down as a very positive experience. While working at CT. Oncology and Hematology (MY FIRST WEEK) I encountered a number of problems, including power outages, system re-boots etc. I happened to have had the privilege of having Mr Krause as my service provider. It is very infrequently that I meet some one like Mr Krause. He is quite a professional, patient, helpful and quite knowledgeable in his field of work. He made every aspect of this journey a learning experience.
He is a perfect example of how I will like my students to be in their field of work.
Mr Krause is definitely an asset to your company and he gives your company quite a healthy reputation.
Ann Marie Alcala
DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Nuclear Medicine
07/08/2009
Marquis Medical Becoming Service Vendor of Choice for Research Facilities
01/21/2009
St. Louis, MO - Researchers don't make decisions lightly; they carefully consider all variables. That is why Washington University School of Medicine turned to Marquis Medical to match the worn-out PET scanner in the neurosurgery ICU.
"We had a scanner in that unit for 12 years that outlived its lifespan. We needed to replace it," said Joel Perlmutter, MD, a neurologist and professor of radiology. Perlmutter conducts research on movement disorders, cognition and dementia at the med school, which is adjacent to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. (Support for purchasing the scanner in July 2007 came from Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation, the NIH, and the departments of neurology and radiology at Washington University.)
"It was cheaper to buy a used one than a new one, that's one reason [we chose used equipment]," Dr. Perlmutter said. "But more important, this [Siemens HR Plus] PET scanner was similar in performance to our old scanner but also very reliable, which would permit us to continue longitudinal studies."
He admits that he was reluctant at first to use an independent service organization, but Marquis Medical won him over with their expertise in PET.
"I had some hesitation initially because we normally purchase scanners from big companies and we've always purchased new scanners. This was a new foray with some trepidation....We talked with [Marquis Medical] and they came up with a price that was better than Siemens'. They identified this scanner and worked so smoothly with us... We were able to test it prior to purchasing it, evaluate it, and that gave us great comfort.... we do all kinds of serious testing to make sure it meets our very rigorous specs."
The replacement scanner was deinstalled from a hospital in Charleston, S.C. that upgraded to a new machine.
Installing a PET scanner isn't so simple but Marquis Medical handled the task like a pro. "The installation took place in an ICU, which did create challenges," said Joseph Sciarra, Vice President of Marquis Medical, Howell, N.J. "You have to be very aware of where you are; noise and dust have to be kept to a minimum; clutter in the hallways is not acceptable; you have to be sensitive to family members you walk past. We did take the old scanner out and it is being stored in our warehouse." The company is a PET service provider specializing in Siemens PET and PET/CT including maintenance agreements, installation, support, sales, and parts.
The customer, a finicky researcher, is very satisfied. "We are really pleased with Marquis Medical; we think they did a wonderful job....With outstanding site planning and installation this was the smoothest installation I have ever seen," Perlmutter said. "Within four days they had removed our old scanner and installed the replacement scanner. It was operational. My imaging physicist did the testing on it within the next few days and it passed with flying colors. And we were operating within two weeks which is nearly unheard of for a research place."
Now, the facility's important work continues, including research on acute head injuries. "A PET scanner is way of measuring radioactivity distribution within the body and specifically for us within the brain. If we administer a radiopharmaceutical, we can see it go into the brain and how it changes over time. That permits us to measure brain function rather than just structure," Dr. Perlmutter explained. "It's used for movement disorder research, cognitive research, stroke, Alzheimer's, and epilepsy....Researchers are figuring out the path of physiology and changes in the brain associated with different conditions, and trying to develop new treatments for acute brain injuries including acute stroke."
Given the particulars of their challenging job, it's interesting how the researchers chose an independent service organization for their PET needs. "At first we didn't follow up, but knew we better find out what all the options are," Perlmutter reflected, like a true scientist.
Marquis Medical Is The Supplier For PET Scanners
12/08/2008
CTI, in partnership with Siemens, virtually invented the PET scanner, a way to measure radioactivity distribution within the body to track various disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's and epilepsy. Now Siemens owned the entire company outright. Sciarra, a long-time CTI employee and highly-trained avionics technician, felt the merger created a competitive "void."
"My partners and I felt there was no choice for customers looking for PET and PET/CT service providers. Where once they had CTI and Siemens, now they just had Siemens," he explains. Thus Marquis Medical was born.
Based in Denham Springs, Louisiana, Marquis Medical specializes in the maintenance, installation and servicing of Siemens PET and PET/CT scanners. A small company with a staff of four, Marquis rests its reputation on its extensive knowledge of the Siemens product. Indeed, when Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, sought to replace its worn-out PET scanner, Marquis won the contract and the task of delicately installing a significant piece of equipment in a working, highly-complicated research hospital ICU. (See DM 4820)
"We partner with our clients," Sciarra says. "We have no as-is sales. We stick with our customers from equipment sale through transportation through installation and calibration. Plus, we give everyone a one-year guarantee. We are a total turn-key solution." While only a year old, Marquis Medical now has a wide range of customers, from research facilities such as Washington University, to private practices and other clinical and nuclear imaging centers. The company services 10 Siemens PET and PET/CT accounts and projects 20 by the end of 2008, according to the recently DOTmed Certified Sciarra.
They handle deinstallation, installation, parts inventory, and new, used, rebuilt, pre-owned, parts repair, along with ACR support and sales. "We had advertised with other sites without impact," Sciarra recalls. "But DOTmed has brought us the most response. It's been very helpful to us and our business." Currently, Marquis clients are just in the United States, but the company is looking to expand into Europe. "We now have a representative in Italy," Sciarra adds. The one trend Sciarra sees in parts servicing is that there is no one mindset.
"This business is constantly changing," he says. "At one time, the PET was No. One. Then the PET/CT, a hybrid, came out in 2002-2003 and changed that." Other issues of concern are the Congressional Deficient Reduction Act which cut insurance re-imbursement. Money was lost.
"That's where Marquis really stepped up," Sciarra adds. "We were able to ship stand alone scanners to offset client costs. There are less direct competitors to us out there, and our company is growing."
