Fast definitive diagnosis from Toshiba's Aquilion ONE allows St. Elizabeth Medical Center physicians to prevent stroke in ER patient

Physicians use Aquilion ONE’s comprehensive exam to detect life-threatening narrowed right carotid artery and begin planning treatment; diagnosis made in one hour

Published: 11/19

TUSTIN, CA, USA - (HealthTech Wire / News) - Patient Pamela Louderback had been experiencing dizzy spells for months and arrived at St. Elizabeth Medical Center’s emergency room (ER) after blacking out one morning at work.  Unbeknownst to her and her doctors, she was on the verge of suffering a stroke.  Standard medical treatment would have included a battery of tests to diagnose her condition over multiple days – a timetable that can prove fatal or debilitating for patients on the verge of stroke.

Fortunately for Louderback, St. Elizabeth used the world’s first dynamic volume CT system, the Aquilion® ONE, to diagnose her condition within an hour and prevent a stroke from occurring at all.  The system is capable of using one X-ray rotation to image an entire organ and show organ function over time, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.’s Aquilion ONE is ideally suited for detecting neurovascular conditions quickly.  It uses 320 ultra-high resolution detector rows to capture up to 16 cm of coverage, enough to image the entire brain or heart and show organ movement.

St. Elizabeth physicians used the Aquilion ONE to detect that the patient’s right carotid artery was 90 percent occluded, which significantly reduced blood flow to the brain.  By diagnosing this condition within the hour, physicians immediately planned stent treatment to open the artery passage, preventing a stroke.

“Toshiba’s Aquilion ONE allowed us to accurately diagnose the patient quickly, dramatically improving her quality of life,” explained Dr. Jeff Dardinger, director of imaging, Vascular Institute, St. Elizabeth Medical Center, who interpreted Louderback’s images.  “Without dynamic volume CT, the patient would have undergone a series of tests for two-to-four days, at a minimum, to uncover the occlusion.  Being able to diagnose the patient within an hour allowed us to plan treatment immediately and prevent a stroke from occurring.”

“I truly believe this system saved my life,” explained Louderback.  “I had several exams over the past few months, none of which could detect why I was having dizzy spells.  It wasn’t until I was imaged in the ER using the Aquilion ONE could a definitive answer be found.”

Introduced in November 2007, dynamic volume CT scans an entire organ in a single pass and produces 4D videos that show an organ’s structure, its movement and blood flow.  In comparison, a 64-slice, 128-slice or 256-slice CT scan can only capture a portion of an organ in a single pass, requiring physicians to “stitch together” multiple scans of an organ to get a full image.  The new technology helps reduce multiple exposures to radiation and exam time.

Designed for today’s healthcare environment, the Aquilion ONE reduces overall healthcare costs and streamlines diagnosis by replacing several tests with a single comprehensive exam.  The Aquilion ONE’s single exam helps reduce unnecessary testing, as well as the accompanying accumulative radiation and contrast dose.

“The Aquilion ONE can dramatically improve patient care by providing a fast, comprehensive exam for patients suffering from life-threatening conditions, like stroke and heart attack, while helping to lower healthcare cost,” explained Doug Ryan, senior director, CT Business Unit, Toshiba.  “St. Elizabeth Medical Center is an excellent example of where the Aquilion ONE enabled physicians to diagnose and treat a patient before a serious stroke occurred.”