CT scanner

The abilities of a Siemens 64-Slice Computed Technology Scanner became clear for Dr. Jay B. Naidu while he was at a recent conference in Seattle.

The specialist in internal medicine and preventive cardiology, who has practiced in Odessa for 32 years, was notified about a patient who had been brought to the emergency room back at Odessa Regional Medical Center. So he took a look at his laptop computer, which was connected to the advanced imaging device nearly 1,900 miles away.

“They said, ‘the patient’s here, can you do a CT?’” Naidu said. “I took a look at it and said, ‘send the patient home.’ ”

“That’s the way it’s going to work now,” he said.

The scanner, which was purchased by then-Alliance Hospital about a year ago, has treated around 200 cases, Naidu said. Though most cases treated there are heart-related, it can also be used to study the brain, lungs and other organs.

The images on the machine are so detailed they can tell patients within minutes whether or not they have a heart problem and its extent, Naidu said.

“They rotate so fast they just take a picture when the heart is not doing anything,” he said.

A scan with the new machine can cost in the hundreds of dollars, Naidu said, where using an angiogram or nuclear scan, the previous standards in making cardiac diagnoses, runs well into the thousands.

Naidu said the procedure is also much less invasive than cardiac catheterization, which involves running a tube thorough the patient’s leg through an artery.

It is taking time to get insurance companies to warm to the scanner because they don’t want too many tests performed. But Naidu said it would ultimately save them money.

“It’s a win-win for patients. It’s a win-win for hospitals,” he said. “It’s a win-win for the economy.”

While Naidu said Alliance was the first hospital in the Permian Basin to get a scanner of this magnitude, it will not be the last. Medical Center Hospital is installing a new $2.5 million Siemens device. It is expected to produce less radiation, though it will cost about $1 million more than Odessa Regional’s.

The Odessa Heart Institute is also adding an advanced CT device, this one made by Philips, Naidu said.

He said it is good for the area to have a number of the scanners.

“We’re not competitors,” he said. “I think we work together.”

Radiologist Dr. George Rodenko, who said he advised both Alliance and Medical Center on their scanners, said the benefits of the 64-slice scanner outweigh any concerns over a small amount of radiation.

“In general, we’re trying to do this in an easier way for the patient,” he said. “It costs less to the patient. It costs less to the system.”