– REGIONAL GOVERNMENT
The Santa Lucía de Cartagena general university hospital has incorporated an advanced dual-energy computerised axial tomography (CAT) scanner with the highest performance into its Diagnostic Imaging service, which came into operation in early March, according to sources from the regional government in a statement.
The Regional Minister of Health, Juan José Pedreño, visited the hospital, where he explained that the new machine «is part of the important renovation project that the Murcian Health Service is developing in the Radiology service of the Santa Lucía and is integrated within the European Structural and Investment Funds (Feder)».
Dual-energy computed tomography is a new imaging technique that uses the different behaviour of tissues at two energy levels.
Pedreño recalled that the investment in this technology «has involved a total of 618,511 euros, as in addition to the acquisition of the apparatus, work has also been carried out to adapt and improve the infrastructure of the room where it is located».
In addition, within the hospital’s Radiodiagnostic Imaging Service, the Interventional Radiology Unit is also renovating an angiograph, which will require an additional investment of more than 877,000 euros.
The Diagnostic Imaging Service of the Santa Lucía hospital continues to increase its capacity and quality. Last year, 148,114 simple X-rays were taken at this facility, as well as 6,445 MRI scans and 17,592 CAT scans, among others.
TISSUE ASSESSMENT
The introduction of dual energy in the hospital will allow, among other things, the quantitative assessment of tissues according to their composition, the reduction of artefacts such as those caused by metallic prostheses and the better interpretation of complex pathologies, among others, of oncology patients, thus achieving a greater dose reduction.
This equipment also allows the acquisition of advanced cardiological studies, even in patients with relatively high heart rate and perfusion with high coverage without table movement, and neuroradiology studies in patients with stroke and vascular radiology.
It also facilitates the separation of tissues according to their composition, such as liver fat, urinary lithiasis, infarct percentage quantification radiology, and also allows the use of automatic analysis technologies to offload some of the radiologist’s routine workload for better clinical care for patients and other professionals.