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London’s European Scanning Centre (ESC) has launched the worlds most advanced scanner, the Aquilion ONE CT 640 slice scanner.

The Centre is the only independent healthcare site in the UK and Europe to have invested in this £2 million dynamic volume CT technology, which uses 320 ultra-high detector rows to image an entire organ in a single rotation. The Aquilion ONE, through its design and the reduced number of rotations needed to image an organ, emits the lowest radiation dose of any CT scanner.

The scanner has been heralded throughout the medical world, as a ‘revolution’ in computed tomography ( CT ) technology, dramatically shortening the diagnosis of cardiac and stroke patients to a fraction of the usual time, significantly reducing radiation dosage and offering a safe, non-invasive alternative to conventional cardiac angiography. The improved accuracy and detail of the images delivered mean that information about blood flow (arterial and venous) and function of the heart, brain, joints and other parts of the body can now be seen in ‘real-time’.

The introduction of the Aquilion ONE allows medical experts at the ESC to scan an entire organ in one rotation meaning that a complete examination can be conducted in 350 milliseconds eliminating the need to reconstruct data from several points in time, enhancing accuracy and speed of diagnosis whilst reducing the need for invasive tests.

Paul Jenkins, Medical Director at the ESC predicts that advances in technology like these, will change the way the medical profession diagnose and treat coronary heart disease: “We have access to the best CT imaging facility worldwide. This will be used to offer patients a non-invasive alternative to conventional angiography. Their scan will be faster, more accurate and safer than the traditional methods used. From the outset we will be able to achieve detailed imaging of all the coronary arteries, including the distal branches, as well as clearly differentiating between soft and calcified plaque. This has not been possible with conventional angiography.”

The ESC will be the UK reference site for the Aquilion ONE, means that it will be the first site in the UK to benefit from enhancements to the scanner. The team will be welcoming medical professionals from across the UK and Europe who are keen to learn more about the scanner and see it in action.

Source: European Scanning Centre

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