Brilliance CT 256-Slice Scanner from Philips Gets to the Heart of the Problem

Philips yesterday unveiled their 256-slice scanner that renders 3-D images of the body like never before. The $US2-million Brilliance CT machine can capture the body’s skeleton, organs and blood vessels in the minutest of detail, and was unveiled yesterday in Chicago, at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting.Philips’ scanner can give a patient a full body scan in less than a minute — and exposes them to 80 per cent less radiation than a traditional X-ray machine. The machine scans the body as well as rotating around it, sending out 256 pulses every one-third of a second. It is so powerful that it can capture an unblurred image of an entire heart in less than two heartbeats.

The machine could prove useful in the battle against cancer. As well as picking up tumors in the body, the scanner should be able to show medics how the disease spreads and new patterns of abnormality. There is currently just one 256-slice scanner in use, at the Metro Health medical centre in Cleveland, Ohio. [Daily Mail]