Dedicated cardiac CT scanner at St Paul’s Hospital

St Paul’s Hospital has a new CT scanner dedicated solely to heart patients.

The cardiac computed tomography (CT) scanner will be a key part of a stand-alone Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic, which is due to open next year.

The high tech unit was free, provided by the manufacturer in exchange for research data.

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The scanner is smaller and easier to use than full-body scans and produces sharper images.

Able to image 25 people a day, the scanner is expected to drastically reduce wait times, while providing critical information to doctors and patients.

“For the patient, I think the richness of cardiac CT is really providing him or her an understanding as to whether or not they have coronary artery disease,” said Dr. Jonathon Leipsic said, head of Radiology at St. Paul’s Hospital.

“To me I think when the patient has chest pain that is fundamentally the question they are asking. We haven’t been able to answer that historically, but now — non- invasively — we can.”