November 20, 2008 - Patient Pamela Louderback was experiencing dizzy spells for months and arrived at St. Elizabeth Medical Center’s emergency room (ER) after blacking out one morning at work, and unbeknownst to her and her doctors, she was on the verge of suffering a stroke.
Standard medical treatment would have included a battery of tests to diagnose her condition over multiple days - a timetable that can prove fatal or debilitating for patients on the verge of stroke. Fortunately for Louderback, St. Elizabeth used a dynamic volume CT system, the Aquilion ONE, to diagnose her condition within an hour and prevent a stroke from occurring at all.
The system is capable of using one X-ray rotation to image an entire organ and show organ function over time. Its manufacturer, Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc., said the Aquilion ONE is ideally suited for detecting neurovascular conditions quickly. It uses 320 ultra-high resolution detector rows to capture up to 16 cm of coverage, enough to image the entire brain or heart and show organ movement.
St. Elizabeth physicians used the Aquilion ONE to detect that the patient’s right carotid artery was 90 percent occluded, which significantly reduced blood flow to the brain. By diagnosing this condition within the hour, physicians immediately planned stent treatment to open the artery passage, preventing a stroke.
“Toshiba’s Aquilion ONE allowed us to accurately diagnose the patient quickly, dramatically improving her quality of life,” explained Dr. Jeff Dardinger, director of imaging, Vascular Institute, St. Elizabeth Medical Center, who interpreted Louderback’s images. “Without dynamic volume CT, the patient would have undergone a series of tests for two-to-four days, at a minimum, to uncover the occlusion. Being able to diagnose the patient within an hour allowed us to plan treatment immediately and prevent a stroke from occurring.”
“I truly believe this system saved my life,” explained Louderback. “I had several exams over the past few months, none of which could detect why I was having dizzy spells. It wasn’t until I was imaged in the ER using the Aquilion ONE could a definitive answer be found.”
Introduced in November 2007, dynamic volume CT scans an entire organ in a single pass and produces 4D videos that show an organ’s structure, its movement and blood flow. In comparison, a 64-slice, 128-slice or 256-slice CT scan can only capture a portion of an organ in a single pass, requiring physicians to “stitch together” multiple scans of an organ to get a full image. The new technology helps reduce multiple exposures to radiation and exam time.
The Aquilion CT product line has received numerous accolades including earning the number one ranking in CT from MD Buyline since 2002 (six consecutive years). The Aquilion CT line has also been named Best in KLAS in 2006 and 2007; Best in KLAS in 2008 for 64-detector row and above; and Frost & Sullivan’s “Healthcare Innovation Award in Cardiovascular Imaging” in 2008.
The Aquilion ONE, the world’s first dynamic volume CT, utilizes 320 ultra-high resolution detector rows to image an entire organ in a single gantry rotation and shows dynamic function like blood flow. Since its introduction in November 2007, the Aquilion ONE has been named Popular Science magazine’s “Best of What’s New 2008 – Personal Health Category,” and Image’s 2008 Most Valuable Product (MVP), Frost & Sullivan’s Global CT Systems Product Differentiation Innovation Award 2007.”
Founded in 1861, St. Elizabeth Medical Center has locations in Covington, Edgewood, Williamstown and throughout Northern Kentucky.
For more information: www.medical.toshiba.com
March 13, 2026 
