U of A Hospital unveils new leading-edge CT scanner

The University of Alberta Hospital is now home to Alberta's first photon-counting CT scanner.

Staff and financial donors introduced the newest piece of diagnostic equipment at Edmonton’s University of Alberta Hospital on Tuesday.

The hospital is now home to Alberta’s first photon-counting CT scanner, which was exhibited for the first time at the opening of the Suncor Energy Diagnostic Imaging Unit at the south-side teaching hospital.

A photon-counting CT scanner provides more accurate imaging and lessens radiation exposure to patients compared to standard CT scanners. The next-generation technology converts X-ray photons directly into electrical signals, while conventional CT scanners use a step converting the photons into light before turning them into electrical signals.

The newer technology, which replaces a standard CT scanner near the end of its service life, gives radiologists more detailed information.

A cancer clinic in Vancouver added such a scanner last year, becoming the first facility in Canada to have one. The new equipment at the U of A Hospital is the country’s third.

Troy Little, the chief financial officer for Suncor Energy, said on Tuesday the $1.5 million that the oilsands crude production giant donated to help establish the diagnostic imaging unit that bears its name because of its “practical impact (that’s) forward looking.”

“When an opportunity came along to help bring leading-edge health-care technology to Edmonton, we saw enough,” he said at a formal media event at the hospital. “We saw an opportunity to support something practical, innovative, and important for patients and health-care teams.”

The University Hospital Foundation raised $2.5 million in total for the new scanner, with the base cost covered by Alberta Health Services.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Darcy Seaton