Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hospital to get new CT scanner

High-tech device will dose 60 percent less radiation


By BRENNAN REGO
Express Staff Writer

    St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center will soon add a “64-slice” computed tomography scanner to its equipment roster that will provide more detailed images in less time than the hospital’s current “16-slice” CT scanner from 2004. The new device will also reduce the radiation dose to patients by up to 60 percent.
    The high-tech scanner will help St. Luke’s’ doctors diagnose and treat illness and injury more effectively, a recent news release from the hospital states.
    “In keeping with our goal to create an exceptional patient experience, we want to make sure we have taken every means available to protect our patients from unnecessary radiation,” said Kandis Pedersen-Romero, the hospital’s medical imaging manager.


The hospital is the only facility of its size in Idaho to receive accreditation from the American College of Radiology.



    Computed tomography, also known as CAT (computerized axial tomography) scanning, is a method of producing a three-dimensional image of the internal structures of a human body—based on measuring each structure’s ability to absorb X-rays. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website, a varying amount of radiation will pass through and exit the body depending on the amount of radiation absorbed by different tissues, such as a muscle or a lung. A CT scanner measures those differences in radiation, slice by slice through the body, to produce the image.
    The hospital began construction to accommodate the new scanner this month and expects to have it operational sometime this summer, the release states. The hospital will use a mobile scanner for four weeks in June so that medical imaging services will not be interrupted while the new equipment is installed.
    “The mobile unit is a 16-slice CT Scanner, so service will be virtually the same for patients needing this type of medical imaging during construction,” Pedersen-Romero said.
    The hospital is the only facility of its size in Idaho to receive accreditation from the American College of Radiology.
    “Our medical imaging program has voluntarily gone through a rigorous review process to be sure it meets nationally accepted standards,” the hospital stated.
    According to hospital spokeswoman Jenny King, the hospital will spend about $1.1 million to acquire and install the scanner.
Brennan Rego: brego@mtexpress.com




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