Cardiac care at Royal Brompton boosted by Siemens cardiac CT system

19 August 2005

To fulfil the demand for more complex cardiac care the Royal Brompton Hospital in London has commissioned the first Siemens Biplane Cardiac CT System with flat plate detectors in England. The AXIOM Artis dBC,  was funded through the NOF Cardiac Initiative in recognition of the complexity of the work being undertaken by the department.

Referral patterns for cardiac angiography for major healthcare centres are changing. For the Royal Brompton Hospital, it is not just the impact of the imaging techniques such as MRI and CT which are bringing this about. Referrals have become increasingly complex as more general hospitals are conducting basic angioplasty procedures.

Royal Brompton Hospital's Superintendent Radiographer for Cardiology, Karen Shevlin, said "we have seen the cases referred to the Royal Brompton Hospital become proportionally more complex both for diagnostics and for angioplasty."

As with all cardiac centres the combination of dose reduction features plus image quality are key factors in the choice of equipment, whilst additional benefits looked for at the Royal Brompton Hospital were simplified ease of use and better Anaesthetists access.

This has all been achieved with the Siemens Artis dBC System and in addition the visual impact of the overall space within the room provides a better working environment. As the lab will be used for children, as well as for adult angioplasty and diagnosis, Dr Alan McGee, a Paediatric Radiologist and member of the adjudication committee, commented "dealing with children with complex congenital abnormalities we had to be sure the system chosen would enable quicker diagnosis through higher image quality but at the lowest dose."

Ms Shevlin continued, "Being a tertiary referral centre for primary angioplasty we need the highest performance from our cardiac imaging systems and an equivalent level of service, which Siemens and its Uptime Support Centre can deliver. We have seen a quick learning curve for staff where the training has been simplified due to familiarisation with the Syngo operating platform."

Highly integrated into the new Artis dBC bi-plane with Sensis and the existing Siemens Artis dFC single plane, the Medcon PACS system for Cardiology provides all diagnostic, haemodynamic data and spatial measurements through its web-based architecture, as well as echo images and doctors reports.

The PACS set up in the department, linking all the Labs, is designed to improve workflow across the site, as is the objective of the new Siemens system. Having comprehensive diagnostic data available is also helpful for the large number of research studies being undertaken in the hospital.

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