Warrington Hospital, part of Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has received the UK’s first Aquilion One Prism Edition CT from Canon Medical Systems. In the first 24 hours of operation, the hospital was reportedly already impressed with the image quality and acquisition speed, a particular advantage in patients who are technically challenging and require a high level of care.
The scanner was selected to enhance the trust’s cardiac imaging service and support interventional imaging requirements, while delivering a robust general CT service. The Aquilion One Prism’s 16cm detector, which supports fast brain imaging and orthopaedic imaging with the patient seated at the scanner, was also a significant factor in the hospital’s choice
Greater image resolution is expected to bring enhanced levels of clinical confidence on image outputs and enable a higher standard of care for patients.
“Our team has been delighted with the arrival of the innovative Aquilion One Prism Edition CT,” said principal radiographer, cross sectional imaging, Diane Duret. “Despite the pandemic, the installation remained on schedule and clinical go-live was agreed. From the first operational 24 hours, we were very impressed with the image quality. This bodes well for gaining numerous benefits to support the high level of patient care and experience we expect to deliver.”
The CT system features Deep Learning Reconstruction technology via its Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) that delivers sharp low dose images at speed. The 16cm wide area detector obtains quality cardiac images of the entire heart in a single rotation in a fraction of a second. A new CT fluoroscopy interface enables simple and streamlined interventional CT.
Duret added: “Canon worked closely with our estates department during the equipment planning and installation stage. We are redeveloping the whole CT scanning department as part of this project to provide separate inpatient and outpatient areas. This will give a better patient experience and optimise our operational workflow.”
Canon Medical Systems UK CT modality manager Mark Thomas said: “We’re delighted to receive such good feedback in the first few days of the Warrington Hospital installation. We are now committed to ensuring the imaging team at the hospital gains all the necessary applications and technical training needed to push the system to its full cardiac and interventional potential, to power productivity and enhance clinical gains.”
Picture: Chief executive Professor Simon Constable, chief operating officer Chris Evans, CBU manager Hilary Stennings, consultant radiologist Dr Vijay Kesavanarayanan, CT manager Karen Green, radiology department assistant Ashley Clare, specialist radiographer Lucy Finland, radiology service manager Mark Jones, specialist radiographer Hannah Critchley, specialist radiographer Anna Gadd and advanced practitioner Chris Grayson.
Published on page 3 of the July 2020 issue of RAD Magazine.