Assessing the state of a person's cardiac health, or lack thereof, is a key to preventing strokes and heart attacks.

The AHRA's Jay P. Mazurowski, who is also the Radiology Director of Concord Hospital, Concord, NH, told DOTmed News during an interview at RSNA 2006, that "CT cardiac imaging is definitely growing in importance as a diagnostic tool."


This non-invasive procedure -- also know as CT Angio, or CTA, "can be preferable to, or an important supplement to, traditional cath lab exams." And Mazurowski sees cath lab procedures becoming primarily a therapeutic tool to correct what the CT data reveals, as CT speed and resolution improve. 64-slice CTs, according to who you talk to, can virtually stop the heart and take a clear picture. Faster machines are not far away that will be able to freeze a heartbeat.

The real issue with CT cardiac imaging isn't about image quality, but, according to Mazurowski, "it will have to do with who should read and interpret the results: a radiologist or cardiologist?" Mazurowski says both professions feel they are qualified, and "turf wars" over who does the reading are bound to increase as CT cardiology increases.

However that debate is resolved -- and there may not be a definitive winner, because whoever does the initial reading may want a second opinion -- the sure winner will be the CT OEMs. Because the living heart is a fast-moving target, high-speed CTs will be required to do the job.

High-speed CTs raise another issue, according to Mazurowski, which he dove-tailed with the issue of the pending DRA reimbursement cuts. He doesn't see the lame-duck Congress as doing anything to modify the cuts slated to go into effect in January 2007, so he urges see work-flow integration and imaging management adjustments as the key to adapting successfully. Or to put it another way, efficiently increasing the number of procedures per day without sacrificing quality is essential.

Efficient management become yet more crucial as faster, more expensive systems are utilized. Making a profit running a 128 and faster generation machines will require well orchestrated work-flow procedures.

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