Women with risk factors for heart disease are among several new groups of patients who will benefit from new cardiac imaging technology now available at the Medical University of South Carolina.
The Flash Dual Source CT scanner, developed by Siemens, represents a significant advance in heart imaging because it can scan the entire chest area in less than one second and complete a scan of the entire heart in one quarter of a second. MUSC joins the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins as one of only three centers in the country to offer the new test.
- Schoepf has been recognized for the last several years as one of the most influential imaging experts in the world.
“This new technology, developed through our close working relationship with Siemens, allows us to make the jump from diagnosis to prevention because so many new risk factor groups are now eligible to be tested with the Flash Dual Source CT,” said U. Joseph Schoepf, MD, radiologist at MUSC.
One of the major advantages of the new CT scanner is substantially less radiation exposure than with previous CT equipment. The amount of radiation that a patient receives with the Flash scanner is an order of magnitude lower than with older generation CT machines. “Limiting radiation exposure to patients is very important,” Schoepf said. “The new Flash Dual Source CT exposes patients to only one-third the amount of radiation as they might receive every year from living anywhere in the U.S.”
Schoepf said this new, safer profile makes the test useful for a wider variety of patients and doctors can now consider using it as a screening tool in a significant number of patient groups. Because of its speed and safety profile, the new Flash CT scanner can be used for asymptomatic patients, including women, who may be concerned about radiation exposure from CT scans. “Now, diabetic patients, those with uncontrollable lipid levels, those with a combination of risk factors like family history and high lipids may benefit from a fast, safe and highly accurate diagnostic test,” he said.
“Women are particular beneficiaries of this new test because breast tissue is especially sensitive to radiation which makes doctors wary of using older CT machines” he said. “At the same time chest pain in women is more difficult to diagnose than in men, because there is a larger variety of underlying diseases that can cause chest pain in women. The new Flash CT scanner is a gentle alternative to invasive heart catheterization, which is typically prescribed in women with equivocal chest pain”.
In addition Schoepf said that the new device is so fast, patients no longer have to worry about holding their breath, or moving during the test. This speed makes the technology ideal for scanning children, who no longer need to be sedated during the test.
Research on dual-source CT conducted at MUSC has also shown that this technology has the “potential to evaluate changes in the status of the blood supply of the heart muscle, in addition to detecting narrowing or blockage of heart vessels,” said Schoepf.
| Flash CT Scanner
Video Player
|
Alex on November 11, 2009
Hey … I stumbled on this website by mistake. I was looking in Bing for PDF software that I had already purchased when I came upon your site, I have to say your page is really cool I just love the theme, its amazing!. I don’t have the time this minute to fully read your site but I bookmarked it and also signed up for your RSS feed. I’ll back around in a day or two. thanks for a nice site.
loans canada on November 12, 2009
newsroom.muschealth.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading newsroom.muschealth.com every day.
pauline johnson on December 10, 2009
Thank you for the intelligent critique. Me and my neighbor were just setting up to do some research about this. I am very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there.
fred salter on December 10, 2009
Hi. I needed to drop you a quick note to impart my thanks. I’ve been watching your blog for a month or so and have picked up a heap of sound information as well as enjoyed the way you’ve structured your site. I am setting about to run my own blog however I think its too general and I would like to focus more on smaller topics.
Louis - Back Pain Relief on December 14, 2009
This is very current information. I guess I will share it on Facebook. This is a great listing of tips and advice. BTW – I found some good advice and tips on back pain relief here: live-without-back-pain.com
Justine - Back Pain Relief on December 14, 2009
Wow, cool points. I will thank the person who said I should visit your blog. Thank you for the useful thoughts. FYI – I found some good advice and tips on back pain relief here: info-backpain.com/back-pain-relief
Cool Paper Airplanes on December 21, 2009
Brilliant. I wish more bloggers would take the time to come up with quality posts like this one.
Marhta Rohlack on December 23, 2009
While this subject can be very tough for most people, my notion is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do treasure that you’ve added pertinent and intelligent commentary here though. Very much thanks to you!
escort canada on December 29, 2009
I really liked your blog! good work my friend.
Geri Gorbea on December 29, 2009
I just want to give you some kudos for exerting effort in posting this entry and in coming up with this. I’m looking forward to more of your blogs.
Maisie Laronda on January 15, 2010
Your site is great I m gonna read all, thanks