For Immediate Release
August 21, 2006
Contact: Linda Zanelli (Marketing Director)
Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center
Phone: (570) 283-0348

Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center Installs the World's Fastest 64 multi-slice CAT Scanner

	Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center is now able to offer its patients that latest in CT scanning technology.

Providing top-notch medical care is always a priority at Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center, Third Avenue, Kingston, and this week we achieved another technology milestone when we installed the world a so fastest CT system of the 64 multi-slice Aquiline by Toshiba America Medical Systems. By acquiring this CT (also called a computed tomography or a CAT scanner), Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center, has joined a handful of elite facilities that are making CT exams shorter and more accurate than ever before.

CT has become one of the most important tools to diagnose head and spine injuries, lung and liver disease, cancer, tumors, blood clots, internal bleeding and other diseases and illnesses.

This 64 multi-slice superior speed cuts the average CT exam time by more than 50 percent. This means that each patient undergoing a CT scan will experience a shorter exam, which may lead to an even more rapid diagnosis and treatment.

But the 64 multi-slice is not just faster than any other system, it provides clearer, better 3-D pictures of anatomical structures like aneurysms, tumors and infections. When physicians can see what is inside better, they can provide more accurate diagnoses.

"Residents do not need to leave our community to have access to the best CT system available today," said Dr. Juan D. Gaia, proprietor and chief radiologist of Valley Open MRI & Diagnostic Center. "This technology can be lifesaving by providing better, more precise images of bones, organs and internal bleeding than other CT systems. For patients with blood clots, infections, and diseases like cancer, early diagnosis with the 64 multi-slice CT scanner can result in faster, more effective treatment."

Performing the CT Exam
During a CT exam, a patient lies on a table and is slowly moved into the large donut-shaped opening of the scanner. Once inside, a series of X-ray beams create hundreds of cross-sectional pictures that represent slices of the patient a so body. Seconds later, the system a so computer assembles the slices into images that are interpreted by a radiologist.

The 64 multi-slice CT scanner can acquire more of those anatomical slices than any other system, thanks to a new technology called multi-slice imaging. In fact, this scanner is so fast that it can rotate around a patient a so body in half a second. At that speed, this CT creates a gravitational force of 13 Gs -- four times the force of the Space Shuttle during lift off. But the only sensation the patient experiences is the quiet ticking of the machine.

As a result, Toshiba's multi-slice technology is quick enough to capture images of the body a so rapidly moving organs like the heart and lungs, which appear blurry when scanned by traditional Cuts. "In a short period of time, we can now evaluate the heart in a very comprehensive fashion, with limited radiation exposure and no surgical risks or hospital admission," said Dr. Gaia. "Multi-slice imaging is also especially useful for examining patients who are unable to hold their breath, like acutely ill patients and young children."

"We continue to strive to bring the best technology available to this community," said Dr. Gaia. "And the installation of this CT marks another milestone in that endeavor."

To learn more about our new, state-of-the-art CT scanner, please call 570 283-0528.