The Cardiovascular Imaging Center of Booth Radiology Offers 64 Slice CT Angiography

Booth Radiology is pleased to announce the installation of its new 64-slice Siemens Somatom CAT Scan (CT) Scanner at its Washington Township location. This new revolutionary CT produces images of the heart in just seconds. The images of the heart provide detailed pictures of the blood vessels that supply the heart, also known as the coronary arteries. If these arteries are blocked, and left untreated, a heart attack can occur.

Since 1974, CT has been used to visualize all regions of the body slice by slice. Simply put, a camera, producing x-rays, rotates around the patient while a computer translates the data into three-dimensional images. In the past, older CT scanners took only one picture each time it rotated around the patient. Today, the advantage of the 64-slice scanner is that it is capable of taking 64 images each time it revolves around the patient, allowing for faster imaging of the heart and of the entire body.

Previously with older CT scanners, the beating heart and its blood vessels could not be adequately evaluated. Due to the constant motion of the heart, older CT scanners were not fast enough to take good images. Sloan Rosten, M.D., member of the Cardiovascular Imaging Team at Booth Radiology, says, “this new technology is like a high-speed camera, which can take pictures of moving objects fast enough so that the images are not blurry. Imaging time is literally just seconds.”

Before this technology, cardiac catheterization was the only good way to directly see the coronary arteries. This requires an invasive procedure in the hospital where a catheter is snaked through the artery of the leg, up to the heart, and dye is injected into the coronary arteries. Now the same information can be obtained rapidly and non-invasively in an outpatient setting. “There are less risks involved in this procedure and it can often substitute for a catheterization,” said Dr. Rosten.

A few years ago, four and 16 slice CT scanners were state-of-the-art and were superior to the single slice scanner. Now, the 64-slice scanner leaves everything behind. It is truly state-of-the-art. “The old scanner was much slower. With the new 64-slice scanner we can scan the heart in about 10 seconds. The claustrophobic patient is generally not a problem. Pictures of the heart are extremely detailed with the new scanner. The heart appears clearly and undistorted without any motion,” said Dr. Rosten.

The Cardiovascular Imaging Center at Booth Radiology also offers Echocardiography and Nuclear Medicine Stress Tests for all of your cardiac imaging needs.

We also provide CT and MR angiography of all body parts including the extremities, carotid arteries, cerebral vessels, renal arteries, and aorta.