Slice of heaven: Hospital uses best-of-its-kind scanner
New equipment is faster, enhanced
Staff reporter
A patient is admitted to St. Luke Hospital following a car accident. Diagnostic testing is needed to determine the extent of the person's injuries.
In the past, a CAT or CT scan could take up to 40 minutes to complete — too much time for a critically injured patient. So, the physician had to determine if the patient should be transported to another facility and, if so, should it be by air or by ground?
This was a common dilemma that faced medical professionals at the hospital — until now.
A new CT scanner was purchased by Marion County Hospital District #1 for the hospital and is now in operation last week.
What used to take 40 minutes now takes 20 seconds, said Joe Pickett, radiology director.
The LightSpeed CT scanner, manufactured by GE Medical Systems, is the first one of its kind in the state.
"This was the first one of this kind for the GE service technicians to install," Pickett said.
He said this scanner was the best one in the region because hospitals generally repair parts of scanners instead of replacing them just because there are new, state-of-the-art models available.
"The old scanner was 18 years old and did a good job," Pickett said, "but this new one greatly enhances the images."
A standard image or slice is .5 millimeters wide. A traditional scanner, like the one the hospital formerly used, provided back-to-back X-ray slices of a specific part of the body. The new scanner actually overlaps each slice when it scans.
Pickett applies a daily quality assurance test to the equipment to make sure it is operating properly. An Internet link to service technicians in Milwaukee, Wis., allows a service technician to view the system and repair problems that may arise. A service technician also is available to come to the hospital to repair the equipment, if necessary.
The scanner is versatile and X-ray technicians are able to scan patients from head to toe.
"We can scan a patient from the top of the lungs to the bottom of the pelvis in 30 seconds (one breath hold)," said Pickett.
Some scans are as fast as eight seconds. Higher-speed scanning means clearer, sharper images with fewer problems caused by patient movement.
Besides faster scanning, the highly automated operation is designed to be used by a single technician.
The imaging process is so automated that the operator only needs to choose from a list of scan protocols, plan the scan, and push the start button. The system reconstructs, films, networks, and archives automatically.
Lights alert patients when the scan is being made so they know to be motionless during the scan. And less time holding their breaths means less stress for patients.
Physicians may order scans for the following reasons:
— Routine chest, abdomen, and pelvis scans.
— Skeletal joint studies.
— Angiography studies.
— Trauma/emergency room situations.
— Stroke assessment.
— Oncology/cancer care.
— Pulmonary emboli.
— Inner-ear ailments.
— Spinal injuries.
— Abdominal injuries.
— Pediatric assessment.
— Kidney exams.
— Liver exams.
— Lung exams.
How it works
Computed Tomography (CT) System, also known as a CAT or CT scan, is a medical diagnostic tool that allows the visualization of internal structures within the human body. This aids physicians in disease diagnosis, viewing internal abnormalities, and assessing the extent of trauma damage.
During a typical CT procedure, a patient is placed on a table. The table then moves the patient through the gantry (a donut-shaped device), which houses an X-ray tube and detector array. For each image acquired, the X-ray tube rotates around the patient and the X-rays pass through the patient to the detector array. Thousands of X-ray measurements are acquired. The computer then processes the information and displays the corresponding images on a computer screen. This imaging technique avoids any superimposition of organs or tissues upon one another that might occur during other types of X-ray tomographic studies.
The images that are created can be compared to a single slice of bread from a whole loaf or a slice from an orange. The word "slice" often is used to describe a view of patient anatomy.
The quality of an image depends on the nature of X-ray source and detectors, number and speed of measurements, details of the reconstruction technique, machine characteristics, and methods of data display and interpretation.
The computer allows health care professionals to shade, rotate, correlate, and measure anatomy in the image. The data can be manipulated to derive even more precise clinical information.
While conventional X-rays can discern tissue density difference of five percent, CT can distinguish a density difference of one percent or less.
A radiologist from Emporia comes to St. Luke Hospital twice a week to examine the CT films and provide diagnoses.
"In less than a month, the radiologist will be able to view the films electronically (via Internet) the same day the films were taken," said Pickett, "but will still come to the hospital on a regular basis for final viewing."
Another time- and cost-saver with the new equipment is patients being able to take a copy of the X-ray films on a compact disc instead of large, bulky negatives in a paper sleeve.
"Often times, when a patient was transferred to another facility, additional CT scans were needed for further diagnosis," said Pickett. "With this machine and technology, that may not be necessary as often."
Pickett has noticed that business has increased in the few days the CT scanner has been in operation.
"We were providing an average of two scans per day," said Pickett. "Now we're doing an average of eight. Physicians and patients are excited about the new technology and are utilizing it."
