Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number- one cause of death around the world. More people die every year from CVDs than from any other cause. In Kuwait, CVDs now account for 41% of all non- communicable disease deaths, leading doctors to search for new ways to detect what has been called a “silent killer”.
Images Diagnostic Center in Kuwait City recently imple- mented ViosWorks™ powered by Arterys™, a groundbreaking new MR software system that completes a cardiovascular scan in 10 minutes or less – significantly less than the 45 minutes to an hour it usually takes to scan a beating heart.
“We chose ViosWorks to reduce the time it takes to do cardiac examinations. ViosWorks is a fast technique when compared to conventional cardiac scans, and we can get vital information such as 3D anatomy, function and flow in 8-10 minutes of acquisition time,” said Dr Yahya Slaiman, owner of Images Diagnostic Center.
It’s the first system of its kind to be deployed in the Middle East. Radiologists at the centre now use the software for 3-4 cases every week on its family of SIGNA™ MRI scanners, including SIGNA Architect, SIGNA Pioneer, SIGNA Artist and SIGNA Voyager.
Seeing the heart like never before
The software and algorithms in ViosWorks not only speed up the cardiac imaging process, but they also provide higher quality images.
“We obtain more data from Vios- Works when compared to the conventional cardiac scans, as we can obtain more datasets in terms of reconstruction, functional and flow studies from a short scan time of 8-10 minutes. We are also able to obtain a high spatial resolution that enables visualization of flow through even the complex structures,” said Dr. Slaiman. Plus, patients don’t have to hold their breath. And faster exams mean patients are in and out of the scanner faster, allowing facilities to serve up to four times as many patients.
ViosWorks helps physicians see the heart like never before by displaying results in 7 dimensions: 3 in space, 1 in time, and 3 in velocity direction. It shows the blood flow in the heart as a moving image, much like a 3D animated movie, and allows clinicians to rotate and view the image from any angle.
It can help clinicians distinguish scarred or damaged tissue from the healthy heart muscle and tell them whether blood is flowing through the heart the way it should be. And it can be used to diagnose and intervene earlier in cardiovascular disease while helping surgeons know exactly what needs to be repaired – or it can even indicate that surgery is unnecessary.
