GE Healthcare to install LightSpeed VCT scanner

GE Healthcare Technologies, a division of GE Philippines Inc. will soon install the first Volume Computed Tomography (VCT) Scanner (64-slice) at the Delos Santos Medical Center.

The LightSpeed VCT has set the record for fastest imaging in the world. Its .35 second rotation and 40 millimeter coverage allow for true volumetric scanning of the heart in only five beats.

LightSpeed VCT is the only proven 64-channel detector in the world, and can cover the anatomy with the fastest speed while simultaneously providing the best resolution.

LightSpeed VCT is considered a GE "imagination breakthrough" product – a major new invention with significant clinical and productivity value for clinicians and patients.

LightSpeed VCT leverages GE’s research and development investment in the area of CT scanning in a new, patented design.

Because of the LightSpeed VCT’s advances in both high resolution and speed, the scanner was selected by Popular Science Magazine as the "Best of What’s New in Technology for 2004." The magazine noted that LightSpeed VCT offers 75 percent faster scanning than existing CTs.

Due to its record-breaking coverage speed, the LightSpeed VCT has the capability to attain 43-millisecond temporal resolution, which means doctors can effectively freeze the motion of the heart, which may lead to a more accurate diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and other life-threatening illnesses.

In a single rotation, the system creates 64 submillimeter images, totaling 40 millimeter anatomical coverage, which are combined to form a three-dimensional view of the patient’s anatomy for the physician to analyze.

LightSpeed VCT is able to non-invasively capture the heart in five beats, scan the whole body in 10 seconds – something no other CT system can offer.

Because of these distinct capabilities, GE Healthcare and its clinical partners around the world have collaborated to identify advanced procedure possibilities.

Heart motion has historically made CT cardiovascular scans challenging and prone to motion artifacts. Due to its speed, the LightSpeed VCT enables physicians to secure extremely high-quality images of coronary arteries at submillimeter resolution in only five beats of the heart. This enables fast and less invasive diagnostic evaluation of arterial stenosis.

Patients exhibiting acute chest pain in the emergency room will be able to be diagnostically scanned, quickly and non-invasively, using the LightSpeed VCT, for evidence of heart attack, pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection, the three most life-threatening causes of chest pain, all in one single scan.

A doctor’s ability to identify the cause of acute chest pain and potentially eliminate unnecessary hospital stays and potentially missed diagnosis is invaluable.

Once a stroke occurs, it is commonly believed that treatment must be delivered within an hour or less to ensure the best outcome for the patient. Current diagnostic imaging procedures are complex.

The LightSpeed VCT offers the speed and resolution required for rapid examination of blood vessels in the brain (perfusion studies), enabling doctors to make a quick diagnosis of stroke and determine the extent of damage, and can help make this complex procedure easier and more routine.

With LightSpeed VCT, routine scans of the head and neck, chest and abdomen as well as the skeletal system can now be done rapidly.

The pristine images can be seen in multiple planes, including 3D reconstructions. Other areas of interest like CT stonography/urography, CT colonography and low-dose CT lung screening for early cancer are now replacing the conventional studies like IVP, barium enema and chest x-ray, respectively.