Wolfson Children's Hospital Offers 64-Slice CT Scanner for Children in Northeast Florida

Jacksonville, Florida, April 23, 2007 -- Children can now not only receive CT scans more comfortably, but their doctors can give a faster and more accurate diagnosis with the recent installation of the first 64-slice CT scanner used exclusively for children in Northeast Florida.

The new, state-of-the-art CT imaging system from GE Healthcare is called the LightSpeed® VCT and is the world's first Volume Computer Tomography (VCT system). Wolfson now offers an innovative way for its physicians to obtain the information they need to diagnose disease and life-threatening illnesses, such as emergency conditions like appendicitis and injuries resulting from accidents, as well as pediatric tumors.

Wolfson radiologists are now able to capture images of a beating heart in five heartbeats, an organ in one second, and perform whole body trauma in 10 seconds, more than twice as fast as conventional multi-slice CT scanners. The speed is especially helpful in shortening breath holds for pediatric patients, especially those who are on ventilators.

"What the new Volume CT means for children is the ability to perform cat scans with little or no sedation," says pediatric radiologist Debbie Merinbaum, MD, medical director of Pediatric Radiology for Wolfson. "Not only is this safer for children, but the Volume CT's enhanced imaging provides more information and less radiation, while it also utilizes less contrast media. This is significant because, in rare incidences, contrast media can cause life-threatening reactions. These are critically important safety issues in pediatric health care."

"With the 64-slice scanner, enhanced image quality leads to a more definitive diagnosis, as well as patient comfort," adds Merinbaum. In a single rotation, the LightSpeed VCT creates 64 high-resolution anatomical images as thin as a credit card. These images are combined to form a three-dimensional view of the patient's anatomy for the physicians at Wolfson to analyze. From these images, physicians can view such things as the motion and pumping action of the patient's heart.

"We're breaking barriers in speed and accuracy of patient exams and are now able to offer new and enhanced diagnostic procedures thanks to our new LightSpeed VCT," states Merinbaum. "We're excited to be the first to offer this medical technology exclusively for children in the area."