Certainly interesting that this technology exists and you hear so little about it.


“SUPER X-RAY” - CT SCAN TECHNOLOGY, 64-SLICE CT”
A type of super X-ray showed promise in its first big test as a potentially cheaper, faster and painless way to find out whether certain people with heart disease actually have it, how advanced it may be, and if it requires treatment.

The scan would eliminate for 1.3 million cardiac catheterizations done each year to check for plaque build up in arteries.

The scans are a little controversial and Medicare and other insurers are debating whether to pay for them. Many heart specialists oppose them, partly because they supply a big dose of radiation (10 times more radiation to a patient than a standard angiogram). The increased radiation dose might include significant reisk factors until studies prove otherwise.

The scan technology has actually been on the market two years (as of December 2007), and is already used by many hospitals. It uses 64 detectors to produce and combine images (slices) and the pictures are so detailed that they are described as an almost “surgical view.”

The scans were tested against the gold standard method of checking for heart disease using angiograms (cardiac catheterization), where a tube is placed in a blood vessel in the groin and maneuvered near the heart, then special dye infused so the arteries show up on x-ray. Blockages that require treatment are revealed and angioplasties performed accordingly.