New Canon Medical CT enables Blackpool Victoria Hospital to diagnose and treat increasingly complex cardiac cases

New Canon Medical CT enables Blackpool Victoria Hospital to diagnose and treat increasingly complex cardiac cases

Canon Medical Systems UK, Crawley, 2nd July 2025 – Over 7.6 million people are living with a heart or circulatory disease in the UK and these numbers are expected to rise.[1] Increased lifespans and a higher prevalence of co-existing conditions are leading to more complex cases. To help diagnose and treat these patients, Blackpool Victoria Hospital has installed Canon Medical’s Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition with the INSTINX platform.

Blackpool Victoria Hospital scans around 4,500 patients per month, including over 50 cardiac patients weekly. The Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition improves image quality, optimises workflow, and enables Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s dedicated team of 38 CT radiographers to provide specialist regional care for patients, especially for those with complex heart conditions. The CT upgrade supports the hospital’s role as a tertiary cardiac centre for Lancashire and Cumbria, where the team handle a high volume of cases from across the North West England.

“The new scanner is truly transformative for our cardiac service,” said Ben Ward, CT Imaging Manager at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. “The Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition offers four times the resolution of our previous system, and the faster rotation time of 0.24 seconds can capture images of the whole heart in a single heartbeat, even in patients with complex arrhythmias[2]. Staff also genuinely enjoy working with the new scanner – it’s easy to use and our self-contained cardiac unit is a lovely environment to be in.”

The Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition sets new standards for efficiency, consistency, and patient comfort. The new system also delivers improved image quality, allowing the hospital to perform high-resolution scans with remarkable speed. And Canon Medical’s INSTINX platform - integrated with the Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition - offers a modern, user-centered design that reduces training time and maximises scanner uptime. Its drag-and-drop protocol interface and real-time workflow adjustments have brought new levels of efficiency and confidence to the hospital’s CT team.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has two additional Canon Medical Aquilion Prime SP CT scanners installed – one within its Emergency Department and another in a mobile Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) – helping to address both acute and outpatient diagnostic needs, including fast-track cancer referrals. Operating seven days a week, the Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) unit scans up to 39 patients daily, reducing pressure at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

The Aquilion Prime SP is a robust, reliable CT system, which provides excellent image quality at low doses. The system has a wide range of integrated technologies to ensure that excellent outcomes are reproducible for every patient.  

All systems are supported by a highly skilled and dedicated support team of engineers and application specialists enabling the clinical team to get the very best out of the system. Ben adds, “It’s a very personable service. We know we can contact Canon Medical’s team directly and get the support we need quickly – that’s invaluable in a busy department.”

Colin Murray, Account Manager at Canon Medical Systems, concludes “Having the right equipment in place is about adapting to the evolving demands and needs of a department and patient cohort. In this case, Aquilion ONE / INSIGHT Edition is enabling Blackpool Victoria Hospital to treat increasingly complex cardiac cases in line with the wider needs of the UK population.”

[1] Facts and figures - Information for journalists - BHF

[2] Heart rhythm problems (arrhythmia) - NHS