Speeds of scans is a boost for Countess of Chester Hospital

CT superintendent radiographer Emma Fondacaro, divisional medical director Dr Amer Rehman, Toshiba Medical Systems CT applications specialist Lee Martin, account executive CT/MR/XR Graham King, CT applications specialist Heather Dring, radiography support worker Mike Roberts, consultant radiologist Dr Javier De-Pablos and senior radiographer Chris McManus.

Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust in Cheshire has installed a Next Generation Aquilion One CT scanner.

The system from Toshiba Medical Systems has a PureVision detector that is said to provide unparalleled image resolution with dose savings.  It also includes Toshiba’s latest generation iterative dose reconstruction software, AIDR 3D advanced, which is fully integrated into the protocols and can be used in all scanning techniques.  A new high speed gantry has a 78cm aperture to accommodate all patients, including bariatric and patients with high heart rates.

Consultant radiologist and divisional medical director Dr Amer Rehman said: “For a hospital of our size to have such a state-of-the-art CT scanner at our disposal is a major coup.  The image quality is fantastic, but the key progress is the speed with which we can capture images of the body, and in particular the heart, which takes cardiac imaging to a new level.  We are now able to image the entire heart and coronary arteries in one cardiac cycle, and the diagnostic quality is superior to any other scanner in operation.”

See the full report on page 17 of the January 2016 issue of RAD Magazine.