Learn about CT Scanners and Liquid Bone

Host: Computer tomography has been used since 1974 thanks to inventor’s British engineer Godfrey Hansfield and Doctor Allan Commack. The CT has become a main stay in medical imaging, making the diagnosis of a disease swift and accurate. Back then, CT images were black and white, flat 2d dimensional cross sections but 3D images are commonly used now. This is achieved by stacking multiple 2D image slices on top of one another and viewing them from an alternative angle. Doctors can get a good idea about the height, width, and depth of an organ or tumor. The shape volume or size in other words. Add to this the fourth dimension, time and modern medicine has itself the ultimate diagnostic imaging system. The problem with 3D CT scans, as detailed as they are is that they present a static image. Organs, tumors, and blood vessels actually move in accordance to the patients breathing. In order to capture the fourth dimension of movement, a series of 3D CT scans is taken every fraction of a second and threaded together to form a sort of movie. Experts then divide the images up into four sections correlating to the different stages of breath. As you can guess, image data for 4D scans is copious so files must be managed efficiently. Radiation oncologists are particularly interested in how tumors move with breath so that they can track the tumor during treatment to ensure they’re aiming the radiation at the right spot.

The only problem is that no two breathes are exactly the same, so if you do 4D CT might have to be constructed to get the average parameters. The patient can make a consented effort to breathe regularly for the duration of the scan to aid the process too. CT scans are painless but not without their risks. Sometimes a contrasting dye has to be taken orally to highlight the upper gut or to inject it to highlight blood vessels. There are some concerns regarding the long term side effects of some dyes, so be sure to ask your specialist about the risks, also taken to consideration the fact that 4D CT will increase your imaging dose and exposure to radiation. Experts are finding that sometimes the CT tube gets a little too hot to handle, again weight off the benefits against the disadvantages. If time is not on your side, it might be well worth your while to get as accurate and swifter diagnosis and treatment as possible.

The next time you break a bone, forget the cast, you maybe up for a simple injection. Liquid artificial bone that looks for all the world like toothpaste is injected at the side and set to the consistency of a real bone with the help of your body heat.

Male: We cut the two syringes together and then we add the liquid into the powder. So the next stage then is add the needle which we’re going to inject the body with, now in that stage we’re ready to inject into the cavity. Here we have something that looks like bone and we can inject it in and the material will harden spontaneously at body temperature and over a period of that in 15 minutes it will convert from this toothpaste foam like material into a very hard material which is as hard as a human bone. Now at that stage, new bone tissue and new stem cells will migrate into that site and the polymers are biodegradable so over a six month period, the polymer will be removed from the body and the site will be completely regenerated with healthy functional bone tissue.

Host: The idea of bone cement has been around for years but old style polymers damage cells. Stem cells dwell in the clear tissue surrounding our bones, just waiting for the signal to move in and take up a specific function.