VOA常速英语2007-Detection of Heart Disease Becoming Safer, Bette

By Paul Sisco
Washington, DC
17 October 2007
 

Medical imaging and improved computer technology are significantly making the detection of heart disease easier, safer and better. VOA's Paul Sisco reports.

Dr. James Earls is the medical director at Fairfax Radiological Consultants¹ outside Washington, D.C.

Dr. Earls' father-in-law, Gerry Higgs, has high cholesterol² and some family history of heart disease.  With a new imaging system called SnapShot Pulse, combined with medical scanning technology, Dr. Earls acquires a complete picture of his patient's heart and describes what he sees. "This is a test that looks at the heart and the coronary arteries³ which are the blood vessels⁴ that supply the heart itself with blood."

In seconds, Dr. Earls has 200 thin images of Higgs' heart.  A special computer process renders them three-dimensional.

You are looking at an image of Higgs' heart.  Here the muscle has been removed, leaving just the critical coronary arteries that bring blood to it.

Dr. Earls explains, "So when people would say they have hardening of the arteries or heart disease itself, what happens is cholesterol and other things get deposited on these small arteries to the muscle of the heart, and we do this three-D [three dimensional] rendering⁵ because it helps us look inside these arteries to see if there are any blockages⁶."

The technology to scan and capture images of the heart is about five years old.  What is new this year are software modifications⁷ that create better images using less radiation -- excessive radiation exposure has been shown to increase cancer risk. The trademarked SnapShot Pulse process benefits the patient and doctor in two ways.

"You get the benefit of lower radiation but then we also get improved quality images at the same time. The improved image quality is important because it allows us to make a better diagnosis⁸ or find smaller blockages that we were not able to do in the past," says Dr. Earls.

SnapShot Pulse technology has only been available for worldwide use since June.

"The real power,” says Dr. Earls, “is that this is able to tell you in a very simple non-invasive test if you have heart disease, and if you do, is it mild or moderate or severe? And that is really revolutionizing a lot of cardiology.  As a preventative tool it's very powerful."

As for Higgs, only a small amount of non-threatening plaque⁹ was discovered, allowing him to leave the center knowing he has a healthy heart.

1 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

2 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

3 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 rendering   

n.表现，描写

参考例句：

• She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

6 blockages   

n.堵塞物( blockage的名词复数 )；堵塞，阻塞

参考例句：

• The storms could increase the risks posed by river blockages. 暴风雨会增加因河道堵塞所造成的危险。 来自互联网
• An angiogram shows the location and severity of blockages in blood vessels. 冠状动脉造影能够显示血管内的阻塞位置以及阻塞的严重程度。 来自互联网

7 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

9 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。