December 17, 2007 - According to Imaging3 Inc., its new Dominion Volumetric Imaging Scanner or DVIS, utilizes between 100 to 1,000 times less radiation than a standard CT scan.
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006 said about 62 million CT scans were administered in the U.S. compared to the 3 million scans in 1980. The study also said as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the U.S. may be due to radiation from CT scans.
CT scans are popular within the medical community because they offer a quick, painless way to visualize 3D pictures in a two-dimensional plane, but as the researchers concluded, CT scans are being offered too readily to patients with little concern for the problems of radiation. In response to the growing concern over the dosage of radiation emitted from CT scans, companies such as Imaging3 have utilized the latest fluoroscopy technology to emit a much reduced dosage of radiation. The company claims its equipment also produces a more accurate image, because the reading is three-dimensional and constructed in real time.
The company said CT exposes patients to more than 3,000 mrem, which is close to what survivors or Hiroshima were exposed to roughly one mile away from the atomic bomb. Imaging3 says its device uses high-speed photo fluoroscopy, which uses roughly between 100 to 1,000 times less radiation to perform the same 3D imagery as well as CT slice data. The device is currently awaiting FDA approval.
The Dominion Volumetric Imaging Scanner’s, production prototype was recently introduced at the RSNA, Radiological Society of North America, scientific exhibit held in Chicago.
For more information: www.imaging3.com