Nov 05, 2015, 06:07 ET
DALLAS, Nov. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Institute for Surgery at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas (TIS) announced it will begin offering standing, or weight bearing, CT imaging to its services before year end. TIS will be the first in Texas to offer what top foot and ankle specialists call the new standard-care to properly diagnose foot and ankle conditions. TIS announced it acquired the technology to aid orthopedic surgeons and podiatrists in the DFW area to provide state-of-the-art care to their patients.
Weight bearing CT scans focus on what may be causing foot pain. Bone and joint alignment in the feet change when a person stands upright. Foot and ankle specialists rely on "weight bearing" X-Rays to treat their patients, and will often redo the X-Ray study if a patient comes in with a non-weight bearing study from an emergency department visit. If the weight bearing X-Ray is inconclusive, physicians will often order a computerized tomography (CT) scan.
Conventional CT scans combine a series of X-Rays taken from multiple angles to reconstruct a three-dimensional look at the patient's bones and joints. However, the patient must be lying down for the study. Although foot and ankle specialists can get useful information from a CT scan, they cannot assess bone and joint alignment.
Dr. John Early, Orthopedic Surgeon at TIS said, "With the advent of weight bearing CT, the surgeon will now be able to more fully evaluate bone structure and joint integrity under the patient's weight bearing conditions. This will greatly enhance the understanding and planned treatment for complex disorders of the foot and ankle." "It does this with significantly lower radiation doses than seen with traditional CT units" said David Helfer, FACHE, CMPE, President, TIS.
Weight bearing CT technology for the foot & ankle was introduced in the United States in 2012. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania Health System were some of the first institutions to start offering weight bearing CT services to patients.
The weight bearing CT scanner is manufactured by CurveBeam, a medical device company based in Warrington, Penn. Shaped like a doughnut, the scanner includes a seat cushion for patients who may not be able to stand. A scan takes just 60 seconds.
Weight bearing CT imaging has the potential to change foot and ankle specialists' understanding of fractures, midfoot complications and other subtle injuries, bunions, flat feet, sprains, arthritis, and Diabetes related complications.
About Texas Institute for Surgery at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas (TIS) Texas Institute for Surgery at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas (TIS) is a Joint Commission Accredited, state of the art acute care, surgically oriented hospital dedicated to providing premier surgical services, innovative technology along with personal care.
The surgical hospital was founded in 2004 and is jointly owned by several highly acclaimed Dallas surgeons and Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas.
TIS offers a full range of surgical procedures, including Orthopedic, Spine, ENT, Pain Management, Urology, Plastics/Cosmetics and Ophthalmology as well as diagnostic imaging.
About the pedCAT system The pedCAT system provides true weight-bearing, 3D CT imaging of the foot & ankle region. With a 4' x 5' footprint, the pedCAT is compact office solution for CT imaging. This device can scan a single foot or both feet in less than a minute at minimal levels of radiation.
About CurveBeam, LLC CurveBeam is headquartered in Warrington, Penn. The company was formed in 2009 with the goal of providing cutting edge Cone Beam CT capabilities to the Orthopedic and Podiatry specialties at a fraction of the price of traditional CT equipment. For more information, contact CurveBeam communications coordinator, Vinti Singh, at (267) 483 – 2007, and visit www.curvebeam.com.
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SOURCE CurveBeam; Texas Institute for Surgery at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas (TIS)
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