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ISLAMABAD: Following reports that jailed PTI founder Imran Khan could not undergo a recommended computed tomography angiography (CTA) during a hospital visit this week, his party condemned the authorities over their “continued failure” to carry out the procedure and demanded that it be immediately conducted at Shifa International Hospital.
When the PTI founder was brought to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in the early hours of Friday for an eye procedure and other diagnostic examinations, doctors recommended a CTA of the heart, but hospital staff reportedly said the facility was unavailable. After other tests, he was subsequently shifted back to Adiala jail, reportedly without undergoing the CTA, which can help identify coronary blockages and assess the risk of a heart attack.
Sources told Dawn the Cardiac Centre’s conventional angiography facility at Pims was different from CTA. While conventional angiography involves inserting a catheter into a blood vessel, CTA is performed using a CT scanner and does not require puncturing a vein.
Doctors pointed out that a 128-slice CT scanner had been operational in Pims’ radiology department since March 2022 and was capable of performing CTA. The test is generally conducted by radiologists on the recommendation of clinicians. A senior doctor said the patient should therefore have been referred to radiology department.
