HUIXIAN

SINGAPORE : A new powerful X-ray machine in Singapore enables more people to be scanned for the narrowing of their heart arteries.

The benefits of this machine were discussed at a regional medical conference held in Singapore.

Doctors expect at least an hour to be saved in preparing patients to be scanned.

This will lead to a faster scanning of the current five or six patients handled each day.

And because the new CAT Scan can take images of a patient's coronary artery without having to slow down the heart rate, it means people who were excluded, because of conditions like asthma or chronic bronchitis or those with faster heart rates, can now be scanned.

Professor Koh Tian Hai, Medical Director, National Heart Centre, explained, "... if a scan is negative, then that is a very good prognosis factor and is also a good diagnostic accuracy. It means that if you are told that you have a negative scan for coronary artery disease, you are home free - as far as heart attacks are concerned."

The new CAT Scan uses two X-rays, instead of one.

This reduces the need for invasive procedures because the images taken are faster and are more detailed.

Doctors at the Singapore General Hospital and at the National Heart Centre hope the dual-X-ray CAT Scan will help in the research of treatment of other diseases.

The planning of the research is still at an early stage, but the doctors would like to start clinical trials in one or two years.

Tumours are one of the medical conditions doctors would like to detect using the CAT Scan.

And also on display at the medical convention is a training simulator for potential heart surgeons.

The idea is to give them practical knowledge by using computer programs to simulate various procedures.

Dr Nandakumar Sivasankar said, "You get the feel of the procedure but certain refinements would certainly be required in the system to give a complete picture. The first would be the provisions for complications to occur."

Even so, the idea is for the trainees to practise as much as possible to minimise the risk to patients.