Faster Diagnosis With Less Radiation: New Heart Scan, Innsbruck Medical University Study

New technology appears to provide faster, more accurate heart scans for both viewing blood vessels in the heart and measuring blood supply to the heart muscle, while exposing patients to less radiation, researchers report in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, a journal of the American Heart Association. In preliminary tests from a small trial of 39 patients, computerized tomography (CT) scans called 2nd generation 128 Slice Dual Source "Flash" CT captured quicker images of the entire heart, allowing doctors to better see artery blockages and reduced blood flow through the heart. This was accomplished using a tenth of the radiation of current CT scans, the standard test for diagnosing and pinpointing the location of heart disease.

Back to news