Staying ahead in multislice imaging

At Diagnostic Imaging, we pride ourselves on staying ahead of the clinical curve. We believe that keeping you informed about the clinical aspects of new technology helps you in your practice and in making purchasing decisions.

It's in that spirit that we present this month's cover story on a site's initial experiences with a 64-slice CT scanner. Written by CT luminary and Diagnostic Imaging editorial advisor Dr. Elliot Fishman and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins Hospital, the article offers a glimpse of what you can expect as the new multislice scanners enter the mainstream. As you might expect, cardiovascular imaging tops the list, thanks to the ability to visualize the coronary arteries without motion artifact and to conduct carotid and peripheral studies without venous contamination.

The article also predicts that the 64-slice scanners will move CT to a stage where it can perform functional imaging outside the brain, perhaps by charting vascular changes that could presage future metastatic disease.

Leading up to and during the RSNA meeting, a lot of buzz surrounded the new generation of multislice scanners. We've devoted considerable attention to them: in the Tech Watch section of this issue, in the Technology Advisor supplement in November, and in this month's cover story.

Although few of the new multislice scanners exist in the field at this point, most radiologists in practice today will eventually interpret the images they generate, and we believe they are interested in knowing what's headed their way. Presenting that information is part of our mission.

John C. Hayes is editor of Diagnostic Imaging