Business & Tech

NUMC Becomes First in Nassau County with Coronary CT Angiography [VIDEO]

The machine is the first of its type in Nassau County.

President and CEO of the NuHealth System Arthur A. Gianelli recently announced the launch of 320 slice coronary CT angiography, with the being the first hospital in Nassau County to offer this state of the art technology to visualize the coronary arteries.

“These heart scans can be performed to evaluate blocked arteries by a noninvasive method,” Gianelli said. “Most scanners available currently use 64 detectors. The advantage of using the 320 detector technology is to achieve very high quality pictures of the heart vessels, faster, but lower radiation exposure.”

The program, a result of a joint-venture services agreement between NuHealth and the North Shore-LIJ Health System, has resulted in many successes over the past two years, explained chief medical officer and executive vice president of the NuHealth System, Steven J Walerstein, MD, FACP.

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“We are a hospital system that has experienced a dramatic transformation - we’ve become recognized leaders in high quality care and patient safety,” Walerstein said. “Earlier this year, we were recognized by the National Association for Public Hospitals (NAPH) for having low deaths rates for heart attacks. We have robust programs in clinical cardiology, electrophysiology and heart failure. And, now we have taken cardiac imaging to the next level by offering cutting edge technology to our patients.”

Dennis Dowling, Regional Executive Director of Physician and Ambulatory Network Services (PAANS) at the North Shore-LIJ Health System, lauded the success of the regionalized cardiology and radiology programs at NUMC.

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“Amazing things happen when highly qualified professionals come together to advance clinical technology for the betterment of the communities we serve in Nassau County,” Dowling said. “I congratulate NuHealth and its clinical chairs for their leadership in launching this program.”

Dr. Stanley Katz, senior vice president for cardiovascular services at the North Shore-LIJ Health System, helped to facilitate the program at NuHealth.

“You need a very specialized skill set in interpreting cardiac CT both to diagnose and to rule out coronary disease,” he said. “We are happy to lend expertise here since we currently use 64 detector imaging and will soon have 320 detector CT at North Shore University Hospital as well.” 

Dr Amgad Makaryus, director of cardiovascular imaging at North Shore University Hospital, applied his cardiac imaging expertise to launch the new cardiac CT program at NUMC. He is board certified in cardiology and cardiac CT and is a founding member of the Society of Cardiovascular CT.

“The 320-slice AquilionOne CT provides very high temporal and spatial resolution and increased anatomic coverage in a single heartbeat,” he said. “It’s an advanced scanner which avoids attempting to reconstruct images from several beats, so it makes the images remarkably clear for diagnosis. Also, the algorithm used lowers the amount of radiation delivered during the exam, which is equally important.” 

Dr. Sanjay Doddamani, chairman of the department of cardiology said that he was able to see first hand how clear the images are.

“I can truly establish with a greater degree of certainty, whether my patient has a blockage or not,” he said. “If your patient can see the plaque, they are more empowered to act upon it, whether by prevention or intervention.”

For further information, please contact Salma Gene, PA in the department of cardiology at sgene@numc.edu or 516-296-7456.


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