CT Scanning at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital Helps Physicians Diagnose Heart Disease

Advanced cardiac imaging at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital includes computed tomography (CT) scanning that offers that physicians a clear three-dimensional picture of the heart and its blood vessels.

The hospital’s state-of-the-art cardiac CT scanner takes X-ray pictures of the entire heart in one heartbeat, before the pictures are combined by a computer into a single image.

The actual scanning takes just seconds, and patients - who receive intravenously a contrast dye before the scan - typically spend about 10 minutes on the machine’s table.

“Because the heart is constantly in motion, being able to capture an image in one heartbeat gives us better picture quality; we don’t have to worry about the heart’s motion. The imaging is painless and reduces the patient’s exposure to radiation,” said Mansfield Hospital cardiologist Sharon Roble, MD, whose specialties include cardiac imaging.

The hospital orders a cardiac CT in conjunction with or in place of other tests. The imaging has been used at the hospital to diagnose and evaluate the following conditions:

• coronary artery disease;

• problems with the aorta;

• diagnosis of congenital heart disease;

• problems with heart function and valves; and,

• inflammation of any of the linings of the thin tissue sac that surrounds theheart.

“Cardiac CT is most heavily used here to look for blockages in the heart’s arteries or hardening of those arteries after a patient complains of chest pains,” Roble said. “In some cases, it can replace cardiac catheterization or a stress test.”

Mansfield Hospital also uses cardiac CT in a preventative way for calcium scoring, which calculates the risk of developing coronary artery disease by measuring the amount of calcified plaque in the arteries. No dye is need for a calcium scoring scan.

Other heart imaging and testing at Mansfield Hospital includes cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cardiac MRI), echocardiogram and stress testing. “”We offer the same full-service cardiac vascular imaging as that of hospitals in larger cities like Cleveland and Columbus,” Roble said.

“Our cardiac CT scanner is the same one OhioHealth has at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus. Thanks to recent investments from OhioHealth, people no longer have to leave Mansfield for any advanced cardiac imaging need.”