FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The most advanced Computerized Tomography system in the world--and the only one in the Army today--is now installed and running at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital.
GLWACH's new CT scanning system is so advanced that it is able to produce a 3D image of the brain in less than a 1/3 of a second.
"This has tremendous positive implications for our patients," said Lt. Col. (Dr.) Shahin Nassirkhani, GLWACH's chief of Radiology. "It is like having four of our previous CT scanners in one machine. It can take a 3D image of the heart in less than one heartbeat."
"Patients with potential heart disease will see enormous benefit," said Col. (Dr.) Peter Nielsen, GLWACH commander.
A patient who presents with chest pain is likely to be scheduled for a complete stress test, a CT angiography and a catheterization procedure, Nielsen said.
"A cardiac image with our new scanner will replace all three steps," Nielsen said.
The ability to perform such complete structural and functional studies will not only improve patient care but also reduce overall healthcare costs by minimizing the need for multiple tests and invasive procedures, such as cardiac catherizations, while reducing the amount of contrast material needed and the amount of radiation exposure by 65 percent, Nassirkhani said.
"This system allows greater accuracy and diagnostic confidence through reduction of artifacts such as motion or stitching artifacts. With less advanced CT scanners, these artifacts limited the evaluation of heart disease because the heart had to be imaged in separate parts as it went through its beating motion and then the images had to be stitched together," Nassirkhani said.
"Now we can get an accurate 3D image of the entire heart in a single rotation as the machine's internal components spin at high speed to produce 640 image slices all at once to form the 3D image.
"This opens the door to safe and accurate imaging even in patients with irregular heartbeats.
"This CT system also allows almost real-time imaging of organ and blood flow motion--so called 4D imaging--which can be immensely helpful to patients with heart attack or stroke.
"No other CT system on the planet can do this," Nassirkhani said.
The CT scanner can also accommodate a wide range of patients from pediatric to bariatric with its table capacity of 660 pounds and its 30 inch wide bore through which patients pass.
"Beyond the hardware, there are numerous software advances such as Single Energy Metal Artifact Reduction (SEMAR) algorithm which greatly reduces metal streak artifact seen increasingly in patients with prosthetic devices after Orthopaedic surgery.
"Also, with the CT scanner's Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction (AIDR) technique, the least amount of radiation dose is delivered to the patient while maximizing image quality.
"GLWACH leads the way in Army Medicine--again--this time in terms of advanced radiology CT capability which fits perfectly well with our goal of providing safe and quality healthcare to DOD and VA beneficiaries," Nassirkhani said.
(Editor's note: John Brooks is the Marketing and Public Affairs Officer at General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital)
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