The Picture of Health

During World War I, a new technology called sonar located distant icebergs and enemy submarines underwater.

In the 1960s, the same principles applied to medicine-called ultrasound-made it possible to detect gallstones and monitor the kidneys and heart.

Computed tomography (CT), positron emission technology (PET), magnetic resonance (MR), digital mammography and more all have sprung from research in physics, computer science, mathematics and engineering. Today's advanced diagnostic imaging boasts super-fast scan times, three-dimensional and real-time images with superb resolution, and patient comfort.

Best of all, these developments are making diagnosis faster and easier and saving thousands of lives. Meet three people who know that firsthand.

Early Warning System
Last fall, 59-year-old Jack Carr of Keller had a fullbody CT screening with electron beam tomography (EBT). Carr has hypertension and a family history of heart disease. His doctor recommended the scan, which can detect calcified plaque in the arteries.

There was no special preparation-all he had to do was lie down and hold his breath. "The scan itself probably took only 30 seconds," Carr says. The good news? "My calcium score was pretty low," he says. The bad news: The test revealed a small lesion on his lung.

Carr was immediately referred to the Chest Mass Clinic at Baylor Medical Center at Irving, where he underwent surgery to remove the lesion and one lobe of his lung. The spot turned out to be an early-stage cancer that had not spread. After some preventive chemotherapy, Carr has a clean bill of health.

"Because my lung cancer was found so early, it was completely treatable," Carr says. "If I hadn't had the CT scan when I did, I never would have known about it until it was too late."

On the Inside Track
Recently, severe abdominal cramping and vomiting brought Velton Davis, 72, to the emergency department at Baylor Medical Center at Irving. In addition, he'd previously undergone cardiac bypass surgery, and the vomiting had thrown his heart into atrial fibrillation, a dangerous abnormal rhythm. First doctors stabilized Davis' heart, then they tackled his stomach complaint, ordering a battery of tests.

All of it was frustratingly inconclusive-until Davis swallowed a single pill containing a tiny camera.

This innovative technology, called wireless capsule endoscopy, helps doctors diagnose isorders in the small intestine, an area notoriously difficult to see inside of because it's not accessible by gastroscopy or colonoscopy. After taking the pill with some water, Davis left the hospital wearing a data recorder. The capsule camera moved through his digestive tract, taking pictures and transmitting them to the recorder. Twelve hours later, his doctor downloaded the pictures and analyzed them. Diagnosis: Crohn's disease, which had narrowed and inflamed a portion of his small intestine. With daily medication, Davis' symptoms have improved.

Davis understandably is grateful for the highpowered capsule, which pinpointed his problem while sparing him surgery that could have put extra stress on his heart. "There's some preparation beforehand, but it's not a big deal," he says. "I'd recommend the capsule to anyone."

More than Meets the Eye
Mammograms can be a bit uncomfortable, but most women feel it's worth a few seconds of pressure for peace of mind.

Judith Volk, 60, who lives in Southlake, is one of them. She has annual mammograms at the Women's Imaging Center at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine.

Mammograms done at Baylor Grapevine can be doublechecked with the R2-CAD Image- Checker, a sophisticated computer-aided imaging tool that highlights subtle abnormalities the naked eye may miss. The radiologist reads the mammogram first, then activates the ImageChecker to see if it marks any suspicious areas that need to be checked more thoroughly. Using this equipment can boost breast cancer detection rates by almost 20 percent.

Two years ago, Volk's mammogram showed an abnormality: a tiny but dangerous breast cancer. She returned to Baylor Grapevine for a lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy, which showed no spread of the disease.

Volk is thankful and impressed that technology at Baylor Grapevine was able to detect her cancer when it was so small. "The radiation oncologist who treated me said it was the smallest but potentially most aggressive breast cancer she had ever seen," she says. "I think the technology they have is phenomenal. It saved me."

By Deborah Paddison