NHS Highland is ahead of the game when it come to the diagnosis of heart conditions.
A recent study led by the University of Edinburgh showed the use of a CT scanner to image the coronary arteries can significantly cut the risk of heart attacks.
Research showed that a quarter of the 4,000 patients tracked over the course of the study had their diagnosis redefined – and reduced the risk of a heart attack by over a third by having the scan.
Raigmore Hospital in Inverness has had this technology for more than eight years and uses it for a specialist service delivered by consultant radiologists Dr John Miller and Dr David Eason.
Many other hospitals continue to use cardiac catheterisation, an invasive procedure which is generally considered to be the best way of diagnosing coronary heart disease.
NHS Highland consultant cardiologist, professor Stephen Leslie, said: “The findings of this study from the University of Edinburgh are very exciting and suggest that CT scanning improves the diagnosis in many patients and may avoid the use of more invasive and expensive tests such as conventional coronary angiograms.
“Coronary artery disease remains a major cause of death in the United Kingdom and we have approximately 10,000 people who live in Highland with the disease.”
Dr David Eason said: “Not all hospitals have the technology to put this research into practice.
“We are very fortunate at Raigmore to have such close collaboration between the Cardiac and Radiology departments and to have these state-of-the-art scans available to our patients.”
Despite this research, NHS Highland have said that it remains important that anyone with chest pain should seek immediate medical assistance.
Chest pain is one of the early signs of coronary disease and NHS Highland has a nurse-led rapid access chest pain clinic at Raigmore hospital.
Anyone with intermittent chest pain should contact their GP immediately and if you think you may be having a heart attack, call 999.