(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The newest models of CT scanners may reduce
radiation exposure by as much as 91 percent during cardiac exams.
A team of researchers compared radiation exposure during a CT scan using a more
traditional 64-detector row helical scanner, with volume scanning using a
320-detector row volume scanner. Imaging using the newer, 320-detector scanner
reduced radiation exposure by 92 percent on patient models.
Doctors say by imaging the entire heart in one piece, the newer technology
eliminates gaps and seams between sections of an image, and the X-ray tube is
left on for a shorter period of time. Experts caution that in order to expose
patients to less radiation using the newer scanners, practitioners are required
to select the appropriate scan mode.
Many cardiac CT exams are still conducted on 64-detector row scanners, which can
image 4 centimeters of the heart at a time. The newer 32-detector row volume
scanners can image the entire length of the heart in a single rotation and
within a single heartbeat.
Source: Radiology, March 2010
