UK first for Barts and The London NHS Trust - Patient research to benefit from cutting edge heart scanner

"A new chest scanner, the first of its kind in the UK, will allow doctors and researchers at The London Chest Hospital to spot heart problems that were previously undetectable. The scanner is a major step forward, enabling experts at Barts and The London Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, which is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, to explore the best ways to treat heart disease and other cardiac conditions. It delivers crystal-clear pictures of the heart, allowing earlier detection of heart problems. It is also the fastest in the UK, thereby exposing patients to the lowest possible dose of radiation. The Siemens Definition Flash CT is regarded as state-of-the-art by clinicians because of its unique ability to perform a detailed scan of the entire heart in just 250 milliseconds - less than half a heart beat. Image quality is still high, even if a moving object is being scanned, such as the heart. Previously, radiographers using older equipment had to slow the patient’s heart with beta blockers and request that the patient hold their breath for the duration of the scan, in order to achieve sufficiently high-quality clinical images. Funding for the machine came from a £3.8 million award for biomedical research into cardio-vascular disease from the NIHR which has designated Barts and the London NHS Trust and Queen Mary, University of London, a Biomedical Research Unit in advanced cardiac imaging."