CT System May Reduce Radiation Exposure By 70 Percent

The LightSpeed VCT CT scanner for cardiac imaging reportedly reduces a patient�s radiation exposure by up to 70 percent for diagnostic cardiac scans, while maintaining optimal image quality.

The LightSpeed VCT XT captures images of the heart and coronary arteries in as few as five heartbeats. With new SnapShot Pulse technology, which applies a process called prospective triggered gating, an automated response to a patient�s heart rate ensures that the X-ray is only on for portions of a scan, thus significantly reducing a patient�s X-ray exposure time.

The LightSpeed VCT XT is also capable of performing CT angiographic (CTA) studies by allowing the table to move from one location to the next to cover the entire volume of the patient�s heart, a mode of scanning called step-and-shoot.

March 2008