Mercy Brings 64-Slice CT Technology to Siouxland
Hospital is First Area Provider to Invest in Advanced Scanner
Mercy Medical Center—Sioux City has unveiled its newest weapon for the state-of-the-art diagnosis of disease and injury with the introduction of a new 64-slice dual source Computed Tomography (CT) scanner.
Mercy is the first healthcare provider in the Siouxland area to invest in this leading-edge diagnostic tool, which produces sophisticated cross-section CT images in less time.
The new Siemens Somatom Definition scanner has been in place in the Radiology Department at Mercy for two weeks. Its installation puts the hospital among an elite group of U.S. medical facilities that have 64-slice dual source CT technology.
To date, Mercy held the distinction of using the region’s most advanced CT scanner, a 16-slice system that went into use at the hospital in 2004. Now, that 16-slice scanner, which will remain in use, will complement its more advanced 64-slice counterpart.
“As a non-profit regional hospital, we remain fully committed to reinvesting in the community we serve by bringing our patients world-class care and the latest medical technology,” said Paul Dougherty, Mercy’s president and CEO. “We are honored to be able to provide 64-slice CT technology to physicians and patients in the Siouxland area.”
Clinicians at Mercy Medical Center say the new CT scanner will improve diagnosis and treatment by creating 64 high-resolution anatomical images or “slices” in just a single fast rotation. That reflects a significantly higher number of images than what traditional CT scanners can provide, thus giving a physician a higher number of more precise images to study.
The images produced by the new device are not only clearer, but scans are also completed faster. The single rotation that captures 64 distinct slices less than one-quarter of a millimeter in width sweeps around the patient in one-third of a second. A full-body scan – from head to toe – is completed in just under 30 seconds.
“We are now offering not only 64-slice CT technology, but also dual source CT,” explains Barb Black, supervisor of Mercy’s CT services. “The scanner uses two X-ray sources simultaneously to produce double temporal resolution, double speed, and twice the power.”
“It provides anatomical images that are exceptional, and its speed allows us to scan any heart at just about any heart rate without the need of beta-blocker drugs – at the lowest radiation dose ever achieved in CT,” Black added.
Dr. James Beeler, a radiologist at Mercy, says dual source CT capabilities offer other distinct advantages.
“By utilizing dual energy sources, we can subtract contrast medium out of the images, thus avoiding non-enhanced exams,” he explains. “As a result, we can expose patients to as much as 50% less radiation doses.”
Physicians at Mercy call the scanner’s capabilities in the diagnosis of heart disease “tremendous” because some patients are not good candidates for beta-blocker drugs – which slow the heart rate – before a scan. Until now, cardiac imaging was only feasible if the patient’s heart rate was adequately low and stable. Because the 64-slice dual source scanner is twice as fast, beta-blocker use is rendered unnecessary. In just 10 seconds, physicians at Mercy will be able to capture a clear, highly detailed image of the human heart, even while its beating at its normal pace.
The extraordinary images produced by the CT also reliably reveal plaque in coronary arteries. Even the smallest coronary vessels appear sharper and stents are highly delineated.
The cutting-edge technology will also aid physicians in the diagnosis of vascular disease, cancer, neurological disease or injuries, and orthopedic concerns.
Patients served by the regional Level II trauma center at Mercy will also benefit.
“CT is the modality of choice for trauma evaluation,” said Dr. Joe Liewer, medical director of Mercy’s Emergency Department and Trauma Center. “An adult trauma patient can have a scan in under half a minute, and a pediatric trauma patient in even less time.”
“Of course, time is always a significant consideration in the treatment of trauma, but the outstanding images produced by a 64-slice dual source CT also give us a very good view of internal injuries, head injuries or broken bones, as well. This is the kind of great technology that you would hope a trauma center would have available.”
The new CT scanner in use at Mercy allows for better one-stop diagnosis in acute care, according to Dr. Larry Sellers, the medical center’s chief medical officer.
“In acute care, we need to help our physicians obtain a confident diagnosis for every patient as fast as possible,” he explained. “When you use several diagnostic modalities, however, acute care diagnoses can be more time consuming. Precious time is lost in the process.”
“When using a more traditional single source CT scanner, obtaining a very good image is considerably more challenging when scanning patients in critical condition. Our new 64-slice dual source CT will make a very big difference by enabling our clinicians and physicians to more easily master complex acute care examinations in one stop.”
Mercy’s continued use of its 16-slice CT along with the new 64-slice dual source scanner further broadens the Radiology Department’s capabilities and ready availability of the right diagnostic tools on-site for patients, according to Black.
“We’ve got two state-of-the-art CT scanners going at the same time,” she said. “Day or night, our patients will be very well served,” Black said.
“The extraordinary applications and amazing images we will now make available for physicians were just a few years ago unimagined. We are very honored to bring to the Sioux City area what is truly a marvel of modern medicine.”
|
