Prince George Regional Hospital unveils new CT scanner

The most powerful CT scanner in Western Canada is now up and running at Prince George Regional Hospital. The Toshiba Aquilion 320 detector, which is only in five Canadian cities, was officially unveiled Monday after two weeks of use. Staff and technicians say the $2 million-machine is able to quickly diagnosing patients with chest pain, cancer and strokes. Acquiring the machine "is quite a feat," said Dr. Firas Mansour, internal specialist. "We are the envy of Vancouver right now." Up to this point, many northern patients presenting with chest pain have had to go to Vancouver for angiogram diagnosis, but now that can be done here in 20 minutes, even though many patients may still have to go to Vancouver for treatment such as angioplasty, he said.