Life-threatening coronary heart disease could be diagnosed and treated five times faster with the help of new 3D technology.
The technology turns a CT scan of the heart into a 3D image, which allows doctors to diagnose the problem in just 20 minutes, NHS England said.
Previously, diagnoses would require a more invasive and time-consuming angiogram in hospital.
Some 100,000 people will be able to use the new technology – called HeartFlow – over the next three years and it could mean they are seen, diagnosed and treated around five times faster.
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Heart Research UK Comment
Helen Wilson, Head of Research at Heart Research UK, said: “Coronary heart disease is one of the biggest, single killers in the UK. New techniques that provide better, faster diagnosis of coronary heart disease have the potential to benefit many thousands of patients and the introduction of the new HeartFlow technology is very exciting.
“Better diagnosis means that patients can receive the treatment they need, as soon as possible. This is particularly important at the moment because of the disruption to patient care caused by the coronavirus pandemic.”
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