Public Hospital Technology Second to None

Queens Hospital recently welcomed a new $1.5 million 64-slice CT scanner – the most sophisticated technology of its kind in the borough of Queens. It's the same machine that HHC will install in three more public hospitals in the Bronx and Brooklyn before year end.

The GE Lightspeed VCT Scanner is the most powerful and sophisticated Computerized Tomography scanner currently available, providing highly detailed image readings in a fraction of the time required by single-slice readers. Its accuracy and improved imaging allows doctors to pinpoint injuries and abnormalities more precisely and evaluate arteries without the need of invasive procedures.

“It provides superior images of the vascular structure of the body whether it’s the heart or other cardio vessels,” says Dr. Bhupinder Khurana, Director of Radiology at Queens Hospital.

The improved speed of the machine is a vital feature for patient care and comfort since the process requires patients to be still and hold their breath while being scanned. The scanner can provide a complete image of the heart in about two seconds and an entire body image in less than ten seconds.

The arrival of the new scanner has been eagerly anticipated to help Queens Hospital and in particular its Cancer Center team meet the increasing demand for this technology. Requests for CAT scans have more than doubled in the last five years from 5,000 exams in 2000 to 10,400 in 2005.

The $1.5 million CT scanners will also be available at HHC’s Lincoln Hospital, Woodhull Medical Center and Coney Island Hospital by this fall.

“With state-of-the-art equipment like this, New Yorkers can be assured the city’s public hospitals are providing quality health care equal to the city's finest private institutions,” added Dr. Khurana.