- LightSpeed VCT Kicks Off A New Era of Rapid, Noninvasive Diagnostics in Africa
- Innovative Technology Transforming Cardiology, Diagnosis of Disease and Injury
Abuja, Nigeria, 29 September 2009 - GE Healthcare, the US$17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), today announced the installation of a their high-end CT (computed tomography) system, GE LightSpeed™ VCT (Volume Computed Tomography) at the Abuja Clinics located in the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja. This leading technology provides highly detailed, three dimensional views of the heart and coronary arteries, helping doctors to reach quick and accurate diagnosis without the need for invasive diagnostic procedures.
LightSpeed VCT, the world's first volume CT system, is able to noninvasively scan the whole body in fewer than 10 seconds and capture images of the heart and coronary arteries in fewer than five heartbeats --- something no other 64-slice CT system can offer.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the number one cause of mortality with wide care gaps across geographies and huge cost on society.1 The management of arrhythmias, an important component of cardiovascular disease, presents many challenges around access, cost effectiveness, and innovation in order to address the needs completely.
GE Healthcare's vision is to inspire solutions for earlier diagnosis, earlier information and earlier treatment to aid clinicians to close these gaps in health access. GE Healthcare's approach aims at increasing access to timely treatment for all patients while improving clinical outcomes, cost-effectively. With this vision, GE Healthcare is providing integrated solutions to enable clinicians and healthcare providers to offer optimal treatment to the patients. Investment in innovative solutions is an integral part of the foundation of GE's 'healthymagination' initiative, which is built on the global commitments of reducing costs, improving quality and expanding access for millions of people.
It is estimated that over 30 million Nigerians suffer from cardiovascular disease and experts believe that CVDs may even be more widespread. The installation of the GE LightSpeed™ VCT at the Abuja Clinics is therefore a huge benefit to many Nigerians for whom such advanced technology was not available.
Speed and Resolution -- Simultaneously
GE Healthcare's LightSpeed VCT is a 64-channel detector, which can cover the anatomy with an extremely fast speed while simultaneously providing an exceptional resolution.
Due to its record-breaking coverage speed, the LightSpeed VCT has the capability to attain 43 millisecond temporal resolution, which means doctors can effectively freeze the motion of the heart, helping to ensure the more accurate diagnosis and, in turn, treatment of heart disease and other life-threatening illnesses.
In a single rotation, the system creates sub millimeter images, totaling 40 millimeter of anatomical coverage, which are combined to form a three-dimensional view of the patient's anatomy for the physician to analyze.
5-Beat Cardiac™
The LightSpeed VCT with its 0.35 second rotation and 40 millimeter coverage allows for true volumetric scanning of the heart in only five beats.
Heart motion has historically made CT cardiovascular scans challenging and prone to motion artifacts. Due to its speed, the LightSpeed VCT is enabling physicians to secure extremely high-quality images of coronary arteries at submillimeter resolution in only five beats of the heart. This enables a fast and less invasive diagnostic evaluation of arterial stenosis.
"Heart examinations, the most demanding CT exams due to the organ's motion, can be performed in just seconds using the LightSpeed VCT, which produces impressive image quality even for fast or variable heart rates," said Dr. Nnaemeka Udezue, Consultant Radiologist.
Triple RuleOut™
Patients exhibiting acute chest pain in the emergency room are able to be diagnostically scanned quickly and noninvasively, using the LightSpeed VCT, for evidence of heart attack, pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection, the three most life-threatening causes of chest pain, all in a single scan.
"Our "healthymagination" vision aims to develop innovative solutions, for the purpose of improving the quality of healthcare, reducing the cost of patient treatment, and increasing access to healthcare for the many. With our latest generation CT scanners, the x-ray dose delivered to the patients is reduced considerably. This new level of performance allows us to promote the development of this technology for cardiovascular disease but also several other pathologies, at various stages of patient care, thus ensuring better diagnosis and better treatment," concluded Alex Canfor- Dumas, General Manager, GE Healthcare Africa.
About Abuja Clinics
Abuja Clinics is a private tertiary healthcare provider equipped with modern diagnostic and therapeutic facilities to support government efforts in healthcare delivery.
Located on 22 Amazon Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria, it has a full compliment of highly qualified and dedicated professionals with specialties in Internal medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Radiology, Physiotherapy.
With its advanced technology (including non-invasive coronary angiography & 4D echocardiography), Abuja Clinics among other services provides health screening programmes for heart diseases, lung diseases, diabetes, colon, breast, prostate & cervical cancers.
Services are provided 24hours a day and appointments booked through [email protected], www.abujaclinics.com, 08036650436.
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
For additional information: http://www.gehealthcare.com/frfr/index.html
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