An Even Bigger, Better CT Scanner?

Toshiba's Aquilion ONE with some bold assertions:

"LIVES will be saved, hospital admissions slashed and heart patients diagnosed more quickly with a powerful new scanner that has put Melbourne on the medical map.

The $3.5 million machine, unveiled at Monash Medical Centre yesterday, is the most advanced model in the world and five times more powerful than conventional scanners."

Never mind that there's no data regarding these claims for this new CT scanner, the radiation received, or the real costs in terms of false positives admitted or direct costs to patients. Certainly, overtesting is creating a huge financial burden on American healthcare. How much will this new technology add to our medical device arms race in cardiology?

But the technology is interesting and demonstrates how fast imaging technology leapfrogs payers' ability to know how to pay for it:

For the first time, physicians can see not only a three-dimensional depiction of an organ, but also the organ's blood flow and dynamic function. Unlike any other CT system, the Aquilion ONE can scan one organ — including heart, brain and others — in one rotation because it covers up to 16 cm of anatomy using 320 ultra high resolution 0.5mm detector elements.

So rest assured, it will all be good. Real good.

Trust me.

-Wes