CT Scans Now Faster and More Accurate at Riverview

Robert Wold, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology at Riverview Medical Center, says, "The Brilliance CT Scanner features the most advanced imaging technology available in Central New Jersey and it’s now available at Riverview."

Getting a computer tomography (CT) scan to diagnose a medical problem is painless. But it can be uncomfortable. You need to lie very still on a table and hold your breath at times, which can be difficult. Now, thanks to the acquisition of the new Brilliance CT Scanner at Riverview Medical Center, the comfort is increased without losing any diagnostic accuracy.

Radiologists at Riverview can now scan a person’s entire body in about eight minutes. Other CT scanners can take two or three times as long as that. "The Brilliance CT Scanner features the most advanced imaging technology available in the Central Jersey region," says Robert Wold, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology at Riverview. "The scan produces more anatomical detail in a fraction of the time needed for other tests. Older patients and those with breathing difficulties or some other distress will really appreciate the shorter exams. We’ll have them in and out much faster, and their doctors will be able to access detailed, definitive results within minutes."

During a CT scan, a patient is moved through a donut-shaped scanner where multiple X-rays are taken of a body part. The X-ray images are then fed into a special computer, which produces detailed, cross-sectional pictures that allow physicians to detect broken bones, tumors, and other medical problems.

The more detailed the images, the more accurately a physician can diagnose what’s going on inside a patient’s body. That’s what makes Riverview’s acquisition of a higher quality CT scanner so important.

"We can use the extensive image information we get from the Brilliance CT Scanner to generate very detailed 3-D images that can be used for more accurate diagnosis, presurgical planning, and treatment evaluation," says Dr. Wold.

The CT scanner is so precise that it can even detect problems such as clogged arteries that can typically only be diagnosed via an invasive test.