February 11, 2005

New technology unveiled at MGH Heart Center's open house

A state-of-the-art technology that provides noninvasive detection of coronary artery disease was introduced Feb. 3 at a special open house hosted by the MGH Heart Center, which is a collaborative, multidisciplinary team, including clinical representation from the hospital's Cardiology Division, Cardiac Surgery Department, Cardiac Anesthesia, Cardiac Nursing and the Department of Radiology. The center provides patients with comprehensive, personalized care from all services, spanning the entire spectrum of cardiac disease.

MGH clinicians from the Heart Center and the Cardiac MR CT Program, a joint Cardiology and Radiology program, demonstrated a noninvasive technology called CT angiography, which provides never-before-seen views of the heart using a new 64-slice CT scanner. This scanner provides high-resolution images that are captured so fast that the heart's motion is effectively halted, enabling clear visualization of the coronary arteries. The MGH Heart Center is the first site in Boston to use this capability, which is expected to change the course of cardiac care. Above, from left, DeSanctis, Dec and Brady with the scanner

Guest speakers at the open house included James H. Thrall, MD, chief of Radiology; G. William Dec, Jr., MD, chief of Cardiology; Thomas J. Brady, MD, director of the Cardiac MR CT Program; and Roman W. DeSanctis, MD, director emeritus of Clinical Cardiology. For more information, call Suhny Abbara, MD, at (617) 726-5954.