64-Slice CT Scan Now Available at Springfield Hospital
Posted on 2/21/2011
Springfield, VT — In its ongoing commitment to provide high quality medical care to the community, Springfield Hospital is pleased to announce that installation of a new 64-slice CT scanner is now complete. Conveniently located adjacent to the Emergency Department, the Toshiba Aquilion 64-slice scanner is available to provide high-speed images for routine diagnostics, as well as in life-saving emergencies.
The new system can quickly scan any region of the body for disease or injury in just seconds, and provides essential information for a prompt diagnosis. This new technology painlessly creates photo-quality images of inside the body and generates three-dimensional views that are immediately available for diagnosis.
“This new equipment ensures our patients have local access to high-quality CT technology,” said Karen Harrison, RN, and Director of Diagnostic Imaging Services for Springfield Hospital. “For patients with blood clots, infections, or cancer, early diagnosis results in timely treatments and improved outcomes. In an emergency situation, this new CT equipment may be lifesaving because the technology is faster and provides improved quality images of bones, organs, and internal bleeding over the older, less advanced CT systems,” continues Harrison.
As patients lie on a sliding table and hold their breath for approximately ten seconds, the machine silently and painlessly takes a series of 64 cross-sectional images, or “slices.” The computer system then quickly assembles thousands of these slices into three-dimensional images. With the click of a mouse, physicians can view any angle, isolate any organ, and zoom in on any spot. “The thinner slices generated by our new scanner allow us to improve our diagnostic confidence during interpretation of the images. Just as important, we can also reduce the amount of radiation a patient receives with a new feature called dose modulation,” adds Gwendolyn F. Durgin, MD, Radiologist at Springfield Hospital.
Highly detailed brain scans can help diagnose a stroke, allowing physicians to determine, within minutes, if the patient can receive medicines to restore blood flow and prevent brain damage.
The reduced scanning time offers many advantages. For example, it can be difficult for young children to hold still for the longer times required with older scanners. People with breathing problems often find it difficult to hold their breath for 30 seconds or more, since that is simply longer than most patients with advanced pulmonary conditions can manage. “Now, it only takes approximately 10 seconds of actual scan time to obtain images that provide important information for treatment and help produce better outcomes,” Harrison said.
Our goal is to help patients prevent illness, or recover as quickly and thoroughly as possible,” Harrison says. “The Aquilion 64-slice CT scanner helps us accomplish that.”
Springfield Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital located in Springfield, VT. A subsidiary of Springfield Medical Care Systems, the 25-bed Critical Access Hospital serves patients throughout southeastern VT and southwestern NH with inpatient and outpatient care, 24-hour emergency care, adult day care services, physical therapy, and a broad range of behavioral health and specialty care services. For more information, please visit www.springfieldhospital.org.
For more information about the new and improved Ct scanning capability, or for more information on diagnostic imaging services at Springfield Hospital, please contact Karen Harrison, Director of Diagnostic Imaging, at 802-885-7324 or email kharrison@springfieldmed.org. ###