South Coast Radiology (SCR) Burleigh Waters delivers a new imaging innovation with the installation of Australia’s first Aquilion Serve CT scanner.

Canon Medical’s Aquilion Serve introduces technology that is designed to set new standards in efficiency and consistency. Created from clinical testing that has refined every detail of the total workflow, it incorporates Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE), that dramatically reduces the overall radiation dose while maintaining diagnostic detail.

SCR CT Modality Team Leader Dee-Anne Heaps said the AI-based technology is so advanced that there has been a substantial reduction in radiation dose administered while still delivering efficient and accurate results.

“We introduced our first AiCE scanner six months ago into South Coast Radiology’s new Burleigh Waters site and we have been able to gauge that the technology has reduced our radiation dose by up to 40 percent from the national ARPANSA guidelines,” Ms Heaps said.

“We have 150 radiographers performing 4000 examinations per year and we pride ourselves on maintaining consistent results across all our fleet. It doesn’t matter where the patient gets scanned on any of our Canon scanners, we can optimise our quality and consistency to ensure clear, concise results.”

Ms Heaps said the advantages of the new machine and technology, will allow SCR to increase patient numbers whereby 30 or more can be scanned in any one day without sacrificing overall care.

“The advantage of having Canon scanners across the Gold Coast is that we can provide consistent results no matter the skill level of the radiographer or where the scan is done. This ultimately improves the treatment plan for the patient and the medical outcomes long term.”

SCR’s Radiographer in Charge at Burleigh Waters Gabrielle James said the Aquilion Serve offers an intuitive interface, image quality at low dose and allows radiographers to optimise patient care. She has also seen an increase in productivity at the Burleigh clinic.

“Having worked on other platforms before, I have found Canon simple, easy to learn and use. The automatic scan planning saves me time as the scanner does most of the work for me,” Mrs James said.

“The 3D scanogram allows us to have the SUREStart ready to go without having to do another scan, so that we’re able to pick the slice we need with accuracy. This is great for things like angiograms and CTPAs where we are able to find the actual vessel we need to put it in, and not just guess where we want our slice to be.”

South Coast Radiology has committed to upgrading 70 percent of its fleet to include the AiCE technology which will be rolled out by the end of the financial year.

Click here to view the SCR Aquilion Serve launch video.