Arineta, a leader in advancing cardiovascular imaging solutions, announced today that Yuma Cardiac Center and Yuma Cardiology Associates have partnered to bring the SpotLight™ cardiac CT scanner to Southwest Arizona for the first time. The joint effort expands access to advanced cardiac imaging with the highest performance CT in Arizona for high-risk and underserved populations, including seniors, Native American communities, and lower-income residents.
The partnership addresses a critical gap in local healthcare infrastructure, where patients have traditionally faced long wait times, limited imaging options, or higher costs through hospital-based services. Many in the region experience significantly higher mortality rates from cardiovascular disease compared to the general population. For seniors who face chronic conditions or mobility challenges, having a high quality imaging option within their own community removes a major barrier to timely diagnosis.
With the SpotLight scanner, both practices now provide high-resolution heart scans to more than a dozen patients per day with lower radiation exposure, greater patient comfort, and faster results, all in an outpatient setting. Unlike hospital outpatient departments, which often carry higher costs, the practices can offer patients timely diagnostics without compromising image quality or care standards.
Cardiologists Khidir Osman, MD and Joseph Cardenas, MD, sought to fill the community’s need for improved access to high-quality imaging by adopting the area’s first dedicated cardiac CT scanner. With faster rotation and nearly double the imaging coverage of other scanners, SpotLight delivers sharper, more accurate images to support earlier and more precise diagnoses.
“Our regional patients are often both physically and financially strained,” said Dr. Osman, lead cardiologist at Yuma Cardiac Center. “Now, we can finally offer high quality heart imaging right here in the community, and especially to our seniors who may have difficulty, avoiding costly travel to larger medical centers. It’s a meaningful step forward for how we care for those who may not have had access to this level of imaging before.”
“Access to high quality imaging shouldn’t depend on geography or income,” added Dr. Cardenas, lead cardiologist at Yuma Cardiology Associates. “Having this system in our clinic makes it easier for patients to get clear answers in a setting that understands their needs. This is technology we wish we would’ve had 15 years ago.”
Arineta’s CT scanner captures detailed images of the entire heart in just one quick scan. Its single-beat, whole-heart technology features optimized 140 mm coverage with 0.24-second rotation speed. SpotLight also uses artificial intelligence and deep-learning imaging reconstruction (DLIR) to sharpen image clarity and reduce noise, making it especially valuable for complex or time-sensitive cases.
