Phillips announces that Westchester Medical Center, the flagship of the N.Y.-based Westchester Medical Center (WMC) Health Network, is the first hospital on the East Coast and only the second hospital in the nation to procure the new Philips Spectral Computed Tomography (CT) 7500. The deal was struck via the hospital’s multi-year technology and services partnership with Philips.
“Our patients are the true beneficiaries of this technology acquisition as the clarity and quality of the medical images generated by the Spectral CT 7500 help our physicians characterize disease quickly with enhanced confidence than with conventional CT scanning,’’ says Zvi Lefkovitz, MD, director, department of radiology for Westchester Medical Center. “The physical design of the Spectral CT 7500 affords our clinical specialists more space to perform biopsies, ablations, and other procedures, and the design makes for a more comfortable imaging environment for bariatric patients.”
Lefkovitz says imaging technology has advanced significantly since he started his career more than 35 years ago. Then, “it took 45 minutes to get 10 images as opposed to today’s rate of just a few seconds.”
According to Philips, with the Spectral CT 7500, technicians from Westchester Medical Center’s Advanced Imaging Center can capture head scans in less than one second, and a full, upper-body chest and abdominal scan in less than two seconds. This increased speed of capture enables clear and detailed images of beating hearts and reduces the number of scans necessary to capture medical images of very young patients under the care of WMCHealth’s Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, who can be a challenge to scan accurately due to their frequent movement.
Philips’ specifications for the Spectral CT 7500 state the system can use less than one-fifth of the contrast solution required for a conventional CT scan, which is beneficial for patients with kidney disease who may have difficulty tolerating the larger volume of contrast solution necessary when using a conventional CT imaging system. The Spectral CT 7500 can also enhance images, lessening chances of a retest if the contrast solution dissipates before the scan is completed.
WMCHealth’s Advanced Imaging Center technicians currently use the Spectral CT 7500 for inpatient scans at Westchester Medical Center.
