December 10: The installation of a Spiral CT Scanner at the Breach Candy hospital has come as a relief to patients who dreaded spending half-an-hour inside an ordinary CT scanner. The total time period for a total body scan using the new equipment is less than one second.

In the usual process, the patient is asked to regulate his breathing and is rotated for scanning in various angles. Then these images are reconstructed using computer technology to get a proper view of the target organ.

The Spiral CT scanner, on the other hand, scans the whole organ spirally yielding a three dimensional image.

The hospital authorities claim that the dosage of radiation, which has been a subject of much controversy in this field, has been reduced a great deal. "Since the time taken for scanning is very little, the dose per slice is at least 40 per cent less than many of the conventional scanners," added Dr K G Nair, a director of the hospital.

The equipment is expected to help in procedures like virtual endoscopy, the study of the internal surfaces of the various organs, and the CT fluoroscopy.

The scanner which costs Rs 2.7 crore is part of the hospital's Rs 20 crore project to commission an extensive imaging unit next year.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.