Health Newsfeed # 1481
ULTRAFAST CT SCANNING
Remember the x-ray glasses that used to be advertised in comic books? They cost about
two bucks, and promised kids they could see through all kinds of interesting barriers.
Here’s a grownup version, turned to a somewhat more high-minded purpose. Ultrafast CT
scanning can take up to 40 pictures of the heart between beats during a five-minute test. It does
so right through the clothes. The patient needs only to lay down and relax. The pictures show
calcium or plaque buildup in the artery walls. Measuring the amount of calcification gives
doctors an accurate way to determine a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke over the next five
years. Johns Hopkins cardiologist Dr. Roger Blumenthal.
It really helps refine how well we’re aging. Clearly, people with more calcium in their
arteries are again more rapidly than we would like. So I think this test will help us in the number
of middle-aged individuals, to hopefully target the appropriate lifestyle and medical therapy.
Other than its ease, ultrafast CT scanning’s huge advantage is that it can detect arterial plaque
buildup in the earliest stages.
At the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, I'm Tom Haederle reporting.
Copyright 2000 The Johns Hopkins University. All rights reserved.
