U.K. cardiothoracic hospital installs Siemens MR, CT
Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, a cardiothoracic hospital and a heart and lung transplant center in Cambridge, England, has installed Magnetom Avanto MR and Somatom Definition Dual Source CT from Siemens into its new diagnostic center.
The imaging technologies will work as part of the new Papworth Direct service, launched in January. Physicians and hospital clinicians can now refer patients who have a high suspicion of coronary heart disease or specific respiratory conditions to the facilities at the cardiothoracic diagnostic center, Siemens siad.
“The current 18-week government waiting list target means that we need to constantly progress our service here in order to maximize patient throughput,” said Richard Rowlands, radiology manager at Papworth. “Conventional imaging cath labs are often under pressure to perform at maximum capacity so we were looking for equipment that would alleviate that demand.”
“The CT and MR equipment benefit from a shared control room improving cross-training and efficiency. This is a great advantage to the facility as sometimes patients will need to undergo a functional MR scan and then go on to have a cardiac CT scan. The location of the scanners and control room mean we can provide a complementary service that speeds up the diagnostic process,” said Richard Greenwood, lead radiographer MRI at Papworth.
Siemens said that the Magnetom Avanto 1.5 T MRI’s open design allows for imaging of claustrophobic or obese patients, with a low-to-the-floor table position. With Tim (Total Imaging Matrix) technology, the MRI provides the full picture of cardiovascular disease through a combination of cardiac and vascular exams in one setting. The system also utilizes 32-channel coils and enables an ‘intelligent coil control’ feature, which detects and selects the appropriate coil elements.
The Somatom Definition Dual-Source CT combines two x-ray sources and two detectors to collect a data set of 90 degrees each during one heartbeat, according to the company.