Technology is certainly growing by bounds and leaps. The proof for this is the latest news to arrive at the medical field. A novel technology that could enable physicians to view three – dimensional pictures of heart arteries in the catheterization lab apparently passed its primary chief testing obstacle.
This supposedly gets doctors one step closer to comprehend its influence on clinical practice. Still in the initial chapters of examining, the 3-D images may facilitate cardiologists to more precisely and rapidly evaluate the length, branching pattern, and angles of heart arteries and any obstructions.
“Coronary interventions may be improved by having a realistic, 3-D image of the coronary artery tree,†commented, John. D. Carroll, M.D., an investigator for the study and professor of medicine and director of interventional cardiology in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Colorado in Aurora, Colo.
Presently, doctors take several two-dimensional X-ray images from diverse views to envisage as to how the arteries appear within the body. The innovative software, which applies current X-ray systems, may decrease the requirement for many X-rays, consequently reducing patients’ exposure to radiation and contrast dye and decreasing the time doctors supposedly spend examining the images.
During a cardiac catheterization process, doctors apparently include a slim tube known as catheter into a patient’s leg artery, and then string it up to the heart. The catheter is subsequently applied to insert contrast dye that appear to momentarily pack the coronary arteries, thereby enabling x-ray visualization of the inner diameter of the artery.
This seems to facilitate doctors to identify plaque build up, then chart and implement, if required, the insertion of a coronary stent to release an obstructed artery and let regular blood flow. X-rays are said to be produced below the patient and 2-D shadow-like images of coronary arteries are believed to be crafted by a detector above the patient. These shadow images have apparently been the average technique of supplying coronary angiographic images for more than 50 years.
In the study, experts pitted these normal 2-D pictures against the mechanically produced, computer-reconstructed 3-D images of around 23 patients’ coronary artery systems. To create accurate 3-D images, the detector is said to be swiftly rotated around the patient during the injection of contrast dye, a method known as rotational angiography.
Carroll remarked that this is the first in-human use. The next step is to test it in multiple centers around the world. In addition they will formally test it to see the impact on clinical care. The bottom line is that this is very exciting technology that holds great promise.
The study was published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, an American Heart Association journal.