Augustina Tawiah
Health
Jan – 18 – 2024, 12:59
The University of Ghana Medical Center has successfully performed its first human scan using the Nanox Arc CT scan machine, making it the second hospital in Africa to use this technology.
Nanox Arc, manufactured by an Israeli company, is able to produce high-quality medical images with unprecedented speed and accuracy at a cheaper cost than regular CT scans.
It works just like regular x-rays, but the Nanox Arc is able to find some of the small problems in the part of the body being scanned that regular x-rays may not be able to pick up.
Due to the limitation of plain x-rays, patients may need further scanning in the form of CT scans which are more expensive and expose patients to more radiation.
The technology was used at UGMC on a volunteer patient, Abraham Asare Bediako, at a ceremony in Accra on Thursday (January 17, 2024) to demonstrate how the technology works.
It was installed at UGMC in 2023, but was only put into use for the first time after the Food and Drug Administration had approved its use.
It will now be available for use by patients from next week.
“When you do the regular X-ray, the information from it is not enough. So currently, doctors may ask you to do a CT scan to see what’s really going on in the human body.”
A CT scan is more expensive and exposes the patient to more radiation.
“Nanox Arc works like Xray. However, unlike this, it gives you multiple images that help you see in detail what is happening in the human body. You also pay less and receive less radiation compared to a CT scan. So it’s like an advanced version of regular X-ray,” explained radiology specialist at UGMC, Dr. Daniel Amankrah.