Arineta announced the deployment of its SpotLight™ dedicated cardiac CT scanner at two Southwest Arizona cardiology practices, expanding the Israeli company’s presence in the U.S. outpatient cardiology market with technology designed specifically for cardiovascular and thoracic imaging rather than general radiology applications.
HotSpot Take:
Arineta’s dedicated cardiac CT strategy bypasses hospital radiology departments entirely, betting that community cardiology practices generate sufficient cardiac volume to justify purpose-built equipment—a market positioning major vendors can’t easily match with their general-purpose platforms.
Yuma Cardiac Center and Yuma Cardiology Associates implemented the SpotLight system in November 2025, marking the first dedicated cardiac CT installation in Southwest Arizona and the second Arineta deployment in the state following Cardiovascular Consultants’ Phoenix-area implementation in 2024. The technology represents a strategic alternative to general-purpose multi-slice CT scanners that dominate the cardiac imaging market, offering purpose-built capabilities optimized for single-heartbeat whole-heart acquisition.
The Yuma deployment demonstrates Arineta’s positioning in community cardiology practices that seek hospital-independent imaging capabilities, serving patient populations—including seniors, Native American communities, and lower-income residents—who face significant access barriers to advanced cardiovascular diagnostics.
Dedicated Cardiac CT Technology and Market Positioning
Arineta’s SpotLight scanner represents a strategic departure from the multi-slice CT scanners offered by major manufacturers including GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Canon Medical (formerly Toshiba), and Philips. While those vendors design systems primarily for general radiology with cardiac capabilities as one application among many, the company claims SpotLight is purpose-built exclusively for cardiovascular and thoracic imaging without compromise for versatility.
According to Arineta, the system delivers whole-heart imaging in a single cardiac cycle using proprietary Stereo CT technology. The company claims the scanner features 140mm anatomical coverage with 0.24-second rotation speed—specifications the company positions as approximately twice the coverage and faster rotation than standard 64-slice CT scanners designed for general radiology applications.
The technology incorporates deep-learning imaging reconstruction (DLIR) to enhance image clarity and reduce noise, according to the company. This artificial intelligence-driven approach aims to improve diagnostic confidence for complex cases while potentially reducing radiation exposure compared to conventional cardiac CT protocols. The system’s specifications—including what the company describes as “nearly double the imaging coverage” of competing platforms—target the single-beat, whole-heart acquisition capability that eliminates motion artifacts from multiple cardiac cycles.
Arineta’s collaboration with GE Healthcare to commercialize an earlier version of the technology, marketed as the GE Cardiographe, established initial market credibility for dedicated cardiac CT concepts before Arineta continued independent development. The company, based in Caesarea, Israel, traces its technical lineage to inventors of multi-slice spiral CT technology and positions itself as continuing a legacy of medical imaging innovation that began in Israel in the 1970s.
The dedicated cardiac CT market remains niche compared to the broader multi-slice CT installed base, with major vendors capturing the majority of cardiac imaging volume through 64-slice and higher systems capable of coronary CT angiography. However, cardiac CT imaging has experienced significant growth following updated clinical guidelines establishing coronary CTA as a Class 1 indication, with many healthcare systems reporting substantial volume increases over the past two years. This clinical validation has prompted renewed vendor attention to cardiac-specific capabilities, including Siemens’ photon-counting CT technology and Canon’s high-resolution Aquilion systems.
Yuma Deployment: Outpatient Cardiology Case Study
The Yuma implementation demonstrates Arineta’s strategic focus on community cardiology practices rather than hospital radiology departments. Cardiologists Khidir Osman, MD (Yuma Cardiac Center) and Joseph Cardenas, MD (Yuma Cardiology Associates) partnered to deploy the technology, establishing Southwest Arizona’s first dedicated cardiac CT capability in an outpatient setting.
“Our regional patients are often both physically and financially strained. 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.” — Khidir Osman, MD, Lead Cardiologist, Yuma Cardiac Center
“Our regional patients are often both physically and financially strained,” said Dr. Osman. “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.”
Both practices now provide cardiac CT scans to more than a dozen patients daily, according to Arineta. The outpatient deployment enables same-day or next-day scheduling availability while bypassing hospital facility fees that typically increase patient costs. For community cardiology practices, this positioning offers competitive advantages in markets where patients face geographic or financial barriers to hospital-based imaging.
Southwest Arizona’s demographics underscore the access challenges that Arineta’s outpatient strategy addresses. The region serves seniors with mobility limitations, Native American communities experiencing elevated cardiovascular disease rates, lower-income residents, seasonal residents (“snowbirds”), veterans, and border populations. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Arizonans age 65 and older, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services, with the agency estimating 67,034 years of potential life lost annually statewide.
“Access to high quality imaging shouldn’t depend on geography or income. 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.” — Joseph Cardenas, MD, Lead Cardiologist, Yuma Cardiology Associates
“Access to high quality imaging shouldn’t depend on geography or income,” added Dr. Cardenas. “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.”
Economic and Strategic Considerations
Dedicated cardiac CT scanners face distinct economic challenges compared to general-purpose multi-slice systems. Hospital radiology departments typically generate revenue across trauma, oncology, vascular, and other high-volume applications that offset cardiac imaging’s more focused patient throughput. Arineta’s strategy bypasses this revenue diversification requirement by targeting community cardiology practices that generate sufficient cardiac imaging volume to justify purpose-built equipment.
The partnership between two independent Yuma practices to share infrastructure costs represents an increasingly common strategy for specialty physician groups seeking advanced diagnostic capabilities. Neither practice disclosed specific financial arrangements, though dedicated cardiac CT systems typically require significant capital investment justified by sufficient patient volume and appropriate reimbursement structures.
Outpatient cardiology practices often have greater flexibility in offering competitive pricing and managing diverse payer mixes than hospital systems with broader financial obligations. This positioning enables practices to offer comparable imaging quality at lower patient costs by avoiding hospital facility fees—a strategic advantage in markets with significant Medicaid, Medicare, and uninsured populations like Yuma.
The deployment’s sustainability will likely depend on establishing referral patterns from primary care providers, building patient awareness in communities that have historically traveled 100-200 miles to Phoenix, Tucson, or Southern California for advanced cardiac imaging, and maintaining sufficient volume to justify the specialized equipment investment.
For Arineta, the Yuma deployment extends the company’s Arizona presence and validates its outpatient cardiology strategy in underserved markets. The technology’s availability represents a measurable reduction in access barriers for Southwest Arizona populations, eliminating long-distance travel, reducing time away from work or caregiving responsibilities, and providing imaging services in settings familiar with community-specific healthcare challenges.
– This original article was created with AI support.
