Adelaide’s Clinical & Research Imaging Centre will be the home to Australia’s first photon-counting CT scanner.
The machine and its unmatched resolution will allow doctors to look deeper inside cancer cells and artery walls with more clarity and less radiation. The cutting-edge scanner promises to help early diagnoses and guide treatment for major diseases like cancer and heart disease.
Speaking with The Advertiser, radiologist and head of imaging at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Dr Andrew Dwyer, said the machine gives medical professionals the unprecedented ability to “visualise inside coronary artery plaques and identify people who are at risk of heart attack.”
The latter capability is being welcomed by Royal Adelaide Hospital cardiology nurse, Sue Tselikidis.
Two years ago, aged 52, Sue who has a family history of heart disease, decided to have a scan to see if any plaque was developing.
“Lo and behold, the doctor rang the next day and told me I had 90 per cent blockage in a major artery,” she told The Advertiser.
“If it was not for that scan, I was headed for a major heart attack and might not be here today.”
Her cardiologist, Dr Johan Verjans, arranged an angiogram and a stent was inserted to restore healthy blood flow.
Dr Verjans, who works at SAHMRI and at the Royal Adelaide Hospital with Sue, said: “Having access to the best CT technology is a win for patients.”
SOURCE: The Advertiser
