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New 64-Slice CT Scanner at LRH
Littleton, NH - In medicine today, every second counts, every detail matters, and a fast, clear picture of what is going on inside the body can save a life. Now, a new 64-Slice CT Scanner at Littleton Regional Hospital will help physicians make the most of every second and every detail – in a way that few other scanners in the world can do. This new scanner will make scans easier on patients, replacing invasive procedures and allow more people to get a definitive diagnosis. LRH is the first hospital in the northern New Hampshire and the Northeast Kingdom of VT to begin using the new Lightspeed VCT (volume computed tomography) scanner made by GE Healthcare.
In a matter of a few seconds, or five heartbeats, images produced by the scanner gives physicians the information they need to tell whether someone is having a heart attack or a stroke, or whether their chest pain is caused by a blood clot, or by a tear or blockage in a blood vessel.
From tiny blood vessels and cancers, to major traumatic injuries, to blood flow in a stroke-starved brain, the new 64-slice CT scanner can capture every millimeter of tissue in the body in just a few seconds, and give physicians at LRH crystal-clear images just minutes later. Physicians will be able to see an exceptional view of their patients’ clogged coronary arteries and other problems, and it will determine if patients need surgery immediately.
Anil K. Murkerjee, MD, FACC, FASE, cardiologist in Littleton, NH states, “This state-of-the-art equipment will give us speed, detail and consistency like never before. Patients at LRH will be treated close to home and would not have to travel to a tertiary treatment center. We will be able to make a firm cardiac diagnosis and effective treatment plan without any invasive procedures. The equipment will help to make a diagnosis of acute chest pain associated with coronary artery disease, aortic rupture or blood clot in the lung at the emergency room. Dr. Mukerjee is trained in 64-slice CT from Johns Hopkins. He completed his cardiology fellowship training at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital in Boston. He is level II certified by the Society of Cardiac CT (SCCT).
Richard Merrick, MD in LRH’s emergency department stated, “The new 64-slice CT scanner allows emergency room physicians to obtain high resolution images on unstable patients that present in the ED, allowing physicians to make a faster diagnosis. The Lightspeed VCT machine is capable of imaging problems with the digestive and urinary systems, the brain and the blood vessels that feed it, and other areas of the body. In addition to sparing many patients an invasive exam, the Lightspeed VCT scanner will allow physicians to capture images of patients who can't hold their breath long enough for a normal CT scan. It will allow physicians at LRH to see the smaller vessels much better and faster, as well as stenosis, or narrowing in the carotid artery that leads from the neck into the brain. Patients who would normally need to undergo an angiogram to diagnose the extent of stenosis can now have a scan instead.
For more information about LRH’s diagnostic imaging services, please call (603) 444-9276.
Photo Caption:
Linda Labrecque, Radiology Technologist at LRH assists a patient through the new 64-Slice CT Scanner. This is the latest in diagnostic imaging technology offered at Littleton Regional Hospital.
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