Shands at the University of Florida Medical Center Installs Toshiba Aquilion 16 CT System

Today Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. announced that Shands at the University of Florida (UF) has installed an Aquilion™ 16 computed tomography (CT) system. The academic medical center now is home to three units in the Aquilion series, including the 32 and 64 systems — all of which offer Toshiba’s Quantum Advantage, delivering the same slice thickness — 0.5mm isotropic slices and are suitable for general radiology, ER, interventional and cardiac applications without compromise. The Aquilion 8-slice system is also installed at the University of Florida’s Veterinary Medical Center (UFVMC).

CT is one of the best tools for studying the chest and abdomen and for diagnosing many types of cancers, including lung, liver and pancreatic. The suite of Aquilion technology also will play an important role in the UF College of Medicine’s ongoing evaluation and validation of CT as a tool for a variety of imaging procedures; including but not limited to, diagnosing early stage heart disease without the use of interventional procedures that can cause greater risk for the patient.

With these advanced systems, Anthony Mancuso, M.D., professor and chairman of Department of Radiology, UF College of Medicine, said his staff has quickly realized significant clinical benefits. In addition to increased patient comfort, the staff reports greater patient throughput and more efficient workflow.

There is also an associated cost savings with having a robust system CT suite, since the 16 and 32-slice scanners can effectively be used for a variety of routine scans, and the Aquilion 64 can now be reserved for more complex cardiac studies.

“Based on the success we’ve had with the Aquilion 64-slice systems throughout the years, we wanted to create a strategy in CT that would streamline our workflow and allow us to move along the platform continuum as our clinical need and resource availability demands evolve,” said Dr. Mancuso. “By adding the 16 and 32-slice units, we can now utilize all of our systems to produce excellent, accurate images at the same slice thickness and allow for excellent patient comfort and reduced exam times.”

With Toshiba, Shands at UF has also previously developed a hands-on, self-paced and e-learning training for ACC Level I and Level II and ACR certification.

“Shands’ and the University of Florida’s commitment to the Aquilion series is a testament to the clinical capabilities of the systems,” said Doug Ryan, senior director of the CT Business Unit for Toshiba. “On both a product and training level, we are excited to continue our relationship with them, to further advance the technology that allows our customers to provide better care for their patients.”

Aquilion CT Systems
Multi-detector CT has dramatically improved clinicians’ ability to accurately diagnose disease at an early stage. It is a powerful diagnostic tool that uses rotating X-rays to penetrate body tissues, generating multiple slice images, which can detect more than traditional radiography. The Aquilion family of premium CT systems feature Toshiba’s proprietary Quantum detector technology – the only detector able to acquire up to 64 0.5 slices simultaneously.

With 4-, 8-, 16-, 32- and 64-slice customizable slice configurations, the Aquilion CT systems deliver excellent image quality and provide outstanding performance and clinical productivity to meet the needs of any size hospital or clinic.