New CT

Medical Center has new tool to diagnose local patients
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
By DANIEL IVERSON
BLACKFOOT – Engineers are installing a new CT scanner at the Blackfoot Medical Center and expect to begin training with patients early next week.Officials say the new addition saves patients from needing to get a referral and schedule appointments for CT scans elsewhere by having them done instead on-site, allowing for faster assessments and diagnoses.The scanner was delivered Monday, and setup takes about three days. It is expected to be finished by today.

CT scanners use x-rays to produce cross-section images known as slices of blood vessels, bones, organs and tissue, which can be examined with a higher level of detail than a regular x-ray.BMC administrators chose Toshiba’s Advanced Aquilion 16-slice scanner, which produces 16 slices as small as a half millimeter per half-second rotation. It requires less radiation than the 64-slice alternative.Steve Graves, senior field service engineer for Turn-Key Medical, said the slices are similar to the pages of a book and allow doctors to see minute details. The composite images can be sent digitally to radiologists.“Toshiba has been the leader for some time,” he said. Scans can help physicians to diagnose a number of conditions, such as kidney stones, liver disease and tumors. Scans are accurate, painless and fast, which BMC officials say is important for saving lives in emergency cases.“Examinations are fast and simple,” said administrator Kerry Casperson. “They reveal internal injuries and bleeding quickly enough to help save lives.” Graves said the average scan takes about 15 minutes, although patients requiring simpler ones may spend fewer than 5–10 minutes inside of the room.“It takes longer to get on and off than to perform the scan,” he said.

A newly constructed room with leaded walls and windows to protect the technicians and to prevent radiation from escaping houses the new scanner, but it’s mostly a safety precaution.“It’s only during exposures that radiation is there anyway,” Graves said.Turn-Key Medical operates locally through Pocatello and supplies, installs and maintains medical imaging equipment to Idaho and surrounding states.Turn-Key engineers are on-call to perform maintenance, but according to Graves, the scanners are generally up and running 99.8 percent of the time after installation except for preventive maintenance every three months.CT scanning now joins BMC’s increasing number of services provided, which include lab, x-ray, physical therapy, ultrasound, MRI and nuclear medicine, and paves the way for further expansion.

**This was the article out of the Morning News