Cardiovascular disease, which includes heart, stroke and blood vessel disease, is the leading cause of death in Australia: it affects more than 3.5 million, or one in five, Australians.

Despite improvements over the last few decades, it remains one of Australia’s largest health problems.

In 2008, the Cardiologists and Radiologists at St Vincent’s approached the Curran Foundation with a proposal for a “quantum leap forward” in their diagnostic services for cardiovascular disease. The new technology platform includes an advanced computerised tomography scanner (CT), the Aquilion ONE, that enables faster, safer and more accurate assessment of cardiovascular disease, reducing the need for invasive diagnostic procedures and providing more timely and effective treatment of disease.

The generosity of the Curran Foundation supporters to the CT Appeal for St Vincent's has been unprecedented – to date over $3.4 million has been pledged.

The Aquilion ONE is the world’s most advanced CT scanner. It will be used by Radiologists in collaboration with Cardiologists, Neurologists, and vascular surgeons at St Vincent's public and private hospitals to enable greater diagnostic confidence and speed for many life threatening conditions such as heart attack and stroke. .

The Aquilion ONE will also have important applications for longitudinal clinical research studies, such as monitoring the cardiac health of patients following surgery or transplantation.