The search to predict heart attacks could stop at MSU.
The computed tomography scanner in the Department of Radiology at the MSU Clinical Center has been running since January to help diagnose diseases before symptoms even occur.
MSU is doing three main types of screening - heart, colon and lungs.
Scanner section chief Kelly Ludema said the machine itself is fairly common, but it’s the research at MSU that makes it unique.
“Part of our research is the prospective studies on patients who are asymptomatic and see how well machines like these do prevent deaths and prevent heart attacks.”
The scanners usually cost about $1 million, Ludema said. MSU’s scanner is co-owned by Mid-Michigan MRI Inc., an entity separate from but partnered with Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital. Contact with them is normally limited to administrative work.
Only one or two facilities with the scanner per state do research like MSU, Ludema said.
Doing the research means patients are asked if they would participate in a study. If they agree and have the qualified health history, scan results and lab work information are logged into a computer system.
Many of the patients who participate in the scanning procedure have high-risk factors including diabetes, high cholesterol or a strong family history of poor health.
Men and women older than 40 are the usual recipients of the scanning.
MSU Radiology has serviced 600-700 patients since the scanner began running six months ago - averaging about 15 per day.
Since the scans can usually be done within three minutes, the department could see nearly 70 patients a day, but quality could be lost in the rush, Ludema said.
“We couldn’t handle that load and focus on patients the way we like to.”
Patients being screened lie on a padded table as it moves through a pale blue and cream round hole while X-rays are taken.
The entire process costs about $450 and is not covered by insurance because “the procedures are still experimental,” Ludema pointed out.
The cost covers counseling, the scan, blood work, follow-up and a meeting with a resident cardiologist.
The preventative procedures are exciting for the medical field, said James Potchen, chairman of the MSU Department of Radiology.
Each year 150,000 people die of heart attacks with no previous sign of ailment.
“If you have people who are at high risk, but don’t necessarily show any symptoms, you can try to prevent the deaths,” Potchen said.
“The first time they know about it they die. It’s a very serious problem.”
