It was while reading an August 20, 2012, article in The New York Times’ personal-health section that I first became genuinely concerned about CT-scan radiation. Prior to its revelations, who knew? According to that article, “CT scans alone, which deliver 100 to 500 times the radiation associated with an ordinary X-ray and now provide three-fourths of Americans’ radiation exposure, are believed to account for 1.5 % of all cancers that occur in the Unites States.” Wow, sobering news, indeed.
The Mayo Clinic defines a CT scan, or Computerized Tomography, as a non-invasive procedure that “combines a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside your body. The resulting images can be compared to looking down at single slices of bread from a loaf. Your doctor will be able to look at each of these slices individually or perform additional visualization to view your body from different angles. In some cases, CT images can be combined to create 3-D images. CT scan images can provide much more information than do plain X-rays. A CT scan has many uses, but is particularly well suited to quickly examine people who may have internal injuries from car accidents or other types of trauma. A CT scan can be used to visualize nearly all parts of the body.”
The CT scan is obviously a very powerful diagnostic tool, but at what cost? Despite its frightening correlation to incidents of cancer, I was still inclined to vote that the obvious benefits of the CT scan outweigh even those horrific known costs. But what if you could have those same benefits without the radiation-related cancer risks?
That is why I was so excited to discover Advantech’s Technology Highlight, Say Goodbye to CT Scanner Radiation, announcing the introduction by Medic Vision Imaging Solutions of its SafeCT device, an add-on system that is compatible with any of the CT machines currently deployed in modern healthcare enterprises. SafeCT allows significant reductions in the radiation dosages normally associated with CT scans without loss of image quality – reductions of up to 77%!
I read all of Advantech’s white papers as a matter of course, if only because they represent valuable resources to any professionals who want to stay abreast of industry trends and of Advantech’s latest offerings. But I’m occasionally also treated to news that delights me simply as another consumer of technology, and this is especially great news indeed.