Fortis Hospital in Anandapur has introduced a CT scan machine, which gives faster and clearer pictures of the lungs and the heart and helps doctors diagnose clots in the lungs of a Covid patient, doctors of the hospital said on Friday.

The machine will be able to take images of every bit of the chest in one go and the patient need not be brought again and again for taking images of various organs.

A city-based pulmonologist said pulmonary embolism, a blockage in pulmonary arteries of the lungs, is common in Covid-19 patients and doctors conduct CT scans to detect the complication.

“At a time when the number of tests were low, a CT scan of the lungs was done to assess whether someone had symptoms of Covid-19. But now tests are done to assess the complications in a Covid patient,” said Sumit Sengupta, a city-based pulmonologist.

Raja Dhar, a pulmonologist at Fortis Hospital, said clots in segmental arteries or branches of the pulmonary artery have also been noticed in Covid-19 patients.

“The CT scan that we introduced in our hospital will be able to detect the clots even in the segmental arteries that an older CT scan machine may miss.”

A CT scan gives more detailed pictures of organs inside a human body and allows doctors to diagnose an illness better. The images produced by a CT scan is more detailed, said a radiologist.

The machine will also help in diagnosing ailments in elderly, children and trauma patients. “Unlike the older machine, this one can take the picture so fast that a trauma patient with multiple injuries does not need to be sedated before they are put in the gantry,” said Salim Pervez, the head of radiology of Fortis Hospital, Anandapur.

Pervez added that children and elderly patients, too, would benefit.