Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital is the first in the region to be home to some leading-edge technology — a 256-slice CT (computerized tomography) scanner — hauled in by a special lift. The CT scanner captures sharp, 3-D images of the heart between beats.
 

With other slower CT scanners, drugs that slow the heart are needed to capture images of the heart and vessels. But not with the 256-slice scanner, which is also faster and needs less contrast for scans, exposing patients to less radiation.
 

The 256-slice CT has a larger table size and increased weight limit of up to 650 lbs. Other advantages include less patient time spent in the scanner and integration directly into the cardiac catheterization labs at Fresno Heart & Surgical.
 

This story was reported by Jennifer Avila-Allen. She can be reached at MedWatchToday@CommunityMedical.org.