New-Generation Heart Scanners Gain U.K. Cost Agency’s Approval
January 25, 2012, 5:22 PM ESTBy Andrea Gerlin
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- New-generation heart scanners won the U.K. health-cost agency’s recommendation as a cost-effective way to evaluate coronary artery disease in people in whom imaging is difficult with existing machines.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommended four scanners for studying coronary arteries in people suspected of having coronary artery disease. The machines were also cleared for assessing patients with the disease for a procedure to improve blood flow, the agency, which advises the U.K.’s National Health Service, said today.
“In some people, imaging the heart and surrounding blood vessels is difficult with older types of CT scanners,” NICE said in a statement. “New-generation cardiac CT scanners have advantages over older types of CT scanners for these people because they can produce better images in a shorter time.”
NICE recommended Siemens AG’s Somatom Definition Flash CT scanner, Aquilion One from Toshiba Corp., Royal Philips Electronics NV’s Brilliance iCT and General Electric Co.’s Discovery CT750. The scanners cost as much as 1.1 million pounds ($1.7 million), NICE said.
Coronary artery disease affects about 2.6 million people in the U.K. and killed about 91,000 in 2007, according to NICE. The condition is characterized by a narrowing of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, reduced blood flow and angina, a form of chest pain.
--Editors: Phil Serafino, Robert Valpuesta
