The SOMATOM® Sensation 64 CT Scanner

From the Inside Out

For centuries, physicians and scientists have searched for ways to look inside the bodies of patients to see first-hand the genesis of disease and to stop problems before they get worse. At Scott & White in Temple, doctors are as close as they have ever been to seeing patients from the inside out.

With the arrival of a new 64 slice Computed Tomography (CT) scanner, radiologists are getting the best look they can at patients. For years, the CT has been a valuable tool using X-ray images of structures of the body. A revolutionary new X-ray tube lets the new 64 slice give very detailed pictures, allowing physicians to do 3-D reconstructions of the body.

“This new scanner will give us better pictures in a shorter amount of time,” said Gill Naul, M.D., chairman of the Department of Radiology at Scott & White. “Single slice CT scanners would give us about 75 images per study, the new 64 slice gives us one thousand. And the 3-D imagery allows us to see more of the body and find things that routinely did not turn up on a CT scan. This new technology is opening up a whole new door in diagnosing and treating disease.”

With uses in cardiology, neurology and urology, the new 64 slice CT scan has the potential to change the face of medicine. When the scans are complete, the images are immediately available electronically to all Scott & White physicians, and can be electronically available to other referring physicians as well. The test will be quicker for the patient and may take the place of more invasive procedures.

“One test we will improve with our new scanner is colonographies,” said Rodney Hajdik, M.D., Scott & White radiologist. “Virtual colonoscopies allow us to get an image on CT that looks like a colonoscopy, but the patient doesn’t have to go through the entire process of a colonoscopy.”

Operational in February, the new 64 slice CT scanner will join an array of high-tech imaging machines that are giving radiologists an up close look at the human body.

“In addition to our new CT scanner, we have a new 3T MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine that not only gives us better images, but also gives us information about the metabolic make-up of structures within the body,” Dr. Naul said. “This new, powerful magnet allows us to see things we have not seen before, which means we can give our patients more information about what is happening to them.”

– February 2005

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