GE Healthcare’s Discovery CT750 HD, a high-definition CT system, has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)’s Diagnostic Assessment Programme for cardiac imaging of the coronary arteries in people with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD), and for those with known disease but who are difficult to image using earlier generation CT scanners, according to a GE press release.
NICE’s goal is to “ensure the National Health Service (NHS) can rapidly and consistently adopt clinically and cost effective technologies,” according to the press release.
GE notes that its high definition scan “is included in the first fully positive recommendation” from NICE. The NICE recommendation now allows health care professionals to reliably rule out significant stenosis (the narrowing of a blood vessel) in “difficult to image” patients, “avoiding the need for uncomfortable and more costly investigations such as invasive coronary angiography,” according to the press release.
In 2009, over 180,000 people died from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the UK. One in three people died of this, according to the British Heart Foundation. The foundation reports that CVD is one of the main causes of death in people under 75 in the UK, causing “28 percent of premature deaths in men and almost 20 percent of premature deaths in women in 2009.” In 2009 over 45,000 people under 75 died from CVD.
NICE’s recent clinical guideline on chest pain estimates that 2.6 million people in the UK have CAD, according to the press release. In addition, an estimated one per cent of the general population consults their general practitioner with chest pain, the press release reports.
What causes CAD in the UK? The same things as in the U.S. – “obesity, high levels of coronary calcium, high heart rates of over 65 beats per minute, the presence of stents (tubes placed in the coronary arteries to keep them open in the treatment of CAD) or arrhythmias (problems with the rate or rhythm of a heartbeat).” Traditionally, some of these factors have caused difficulties in imaging patients with earlier generation CT scanners, according to the press release.
But the new technology lets high-quality images be acquired faster and with less radiation, causing less exposure and less time in a scanner for patients, all part of a better patient experience, according to the press release.
The press release reports that up to now, “no assessment in NICE’s Diagnostic Assessment Programme has resulted in a fully positive recommendation, primarily falling short due to the challenges that diagnostics face in demonstrating clinical and cost effectiveness compared with the more direct evidence generated by pharmacological treatments.”
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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
