TUSTIN, CA - Meeting the needs of today's healthcare demands for improving patient care and safety while lowering costs, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health (NIH) has installed the most advanced, lowest radiation CT system available - Toshiba's Aquilion® ONE, the world's first dynamic volume CT system.

As the nation's leading medical research agency, NIH plans to use Toshiba's Aquilion ONE dynamic volume CT system for research to improve patient outcomes with a study focusing on low-dose cardiac exams. Additional future studies using the Aquilion ONE could include examining coronary artery disease and myocardial perfusion.

Beyond lowering radiation dose, the Aquilion ONE's ability to image the entire organ and show real-time motion helps reduce diagnosis time from hours or days to minutes for patients suffering from life-threatening conditions. It also enables physicians to treat patients faster and more accurately than before, which will ultimately help lower healthcare costs.
"We designed the Aquilion ONE to not only show whole organ anatomy but also the changes in the entire organ over time resulting in a better, faster and more complete diagnosis," explained Doug Ryan, senior director, CT Business Unit, Toshiba. "Poised for today's healthcare environment, the Aquilion ONE has the potential to replace multiple existing tests, reduce overall exam time for patients and physicians, and decrease the amount of radiation and contrast dose. The NIH, the leading medical research agency for the U.S. government, will be one of our key sites validating its potential."

Introduced in November 2007, dynamic volume CT scans an entire organ in a single pass and produces 4D videos that show an organ's structure, its movement and blood flow. In comparison, a 64-slice, 128-slice or 256-slice CT scan can only capture a portion of an organ in a single pass, requiring physicians to "stitch together" multiple scans of an organ to get a full image. The new technology helps reduce multiple exposures to radiation and exam time.
About Toshiba's Aquilion CT Product Line Recognition

The Aquilion® CT product line has received numerous accolades including earning the number one ranking in CT from MD Buyline since 2002 (six consecutive years). The Aquilion CT line has also been named Best in KLAS in 2006 and 2007; Best in KLAS in 2008 for 64-detector row and above; and Frost & Sullivan's "Healthcare Innovation Award in Cardiovascular Imaging" in 2008. For more information about KLAS, visit www.KLASresearch.com.

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