Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (KD)

Mangalore, Jan 17: Minister of state for labour and employment Oscar Fernandes will be in the city to inaugurate the 64 slice CT scanner, a revolutionary imagery technology at Kasturba Medical Hospital here on Friday January 18.

A press release stated that the state-of-the-art CT scanner has a distinct usefulness in the imaging of heart disease with minimum discomfort and in the shortest possible time.

According to Dr V R K Rao, head of the department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging and
Interventional Radiology, the ‘64-slice MD CT’ scans the heart within 7 to 8 seconds with high image quality. The system automatically recognizes the irregular beat rhythm and corrects the signals for accurate imaging of the blood flow in the vessels of the heart.

For a few patients with rapid heartbeats, using the older scanner meant having to slow down the heartbeat with drugs. The 64-slice scanner permits visualization of the entire length of the blood vessel of the heart where as the older scanners allow visualization only of the first two thirds of the blood vessel. It also permits visualization of grafts and stents very clearly in patients who have had undergone heart surgery in the past. Also, the ability to visualize cholesterol and calcium in the heart vessels predicts the risk for heart-attack among population.

Besides there are other applications in the human body, such as brain, liver, bones, lungs etc. It is much more comfortable to the patient.

‘Radiation dose from the scanner is negligible for diagnostic purpose,’ says Dr V R K Rao, and there is absolutely no risk of radiation even for pregnant women in later pregnancy. Blood channels in the entire human body, especially of children and injured patients can be shown to detect cancer, blocks and even massive bleeding points, within seconds just by injection into the arm vein without the need for invasive catheter angiography.
 
Dr H S Ballal, Pro-chancellor, Manipal University said that Kasturba Hospital at Manipal will be at the forefront with acquisition of this new technology and will be instrumental in doing comparative studies to determine if the scanner provides just as useful information as catheterization. The high speed of imaging of the 64 Slice MD CT is particularly useful for examining patients with severe injuries involving many organs or bones. The scanner is capable of extracting minute organs like the interior of the ear and distinctly show as if it is removed from inside, the release stated.