Hospital's CT scanner gives sharper image

COLUMBUS - Seeing more clearly is always beneficial, especially when it comes to your health.

The new CT scanner at Columbus Community Hospital gives medical personnel more information by producing images that allow for a diagnosis of cancer and heart disease earlier than ever before.

Computed tomography scans, more commonly called CT scans, have been used at medical facilities since 1974. The scans visualize regions of the body "slice by slice," and are routinely used for examinations of the whole body.

When having a CT scan performed, the patient lies on a table that moves through the CT unit and an X-ray system rotates around the patient. Images of the body are acquired in spiral movements. CT scans see inside a body, into areas that cannot be visualized by standard X-ray examinations.

An average of 15-18 patients are given CT scans each day at CCH.

About three weeks ago the Somatom Sensation 64 replaced an older CT scanner at the hospital. The previous machine had four rows of image detectors compared to the new machine, which has 64 rows.

Physicians and technicians can rotate and flip the images on a computer screen for a better assessment of medical concerns.

"There have already been clinical situations where we have been able to view a case in greater detail and gain information that we might otherwise have missed," said CCH Radiology Director Tommy Williams.

There are many advantages to the state-of-the-art CT scanner, including increased speed of operation. The old machine, in a procedure involving the chest, abdomen and pelvis, could take about 300 images over about 45 to 60 seconds, but now between 2,000 and 3,000 images can be generated in about seven seconds.

Williams said because of the sizable increase in scanning speed, the chance of patients moving during the procedure and spoiling the images is lessened. The speed is vital when accident victims are brought into the hospital. The scanner can quickly take images of the entire body when a diagnosis is vital to the survival of the patient.

Other primary uses of the CT scanner involve diagnosis of arterial disease or blockage as well as cancer, fractures, abscesses, changes in various organs and diagnosing and excluding diseases.

Research hospitals are determining the exact guidelines on the machine's applications.

When using the old CT scanner, separate passes were made over the body for bone, soft tissues and arteries, but only one pass is required of the Somatom Sensation 64, Williams said.

"It's a true multi-tasking scanner," he said.

Images from the machine are sent to computer monitors at the hospital. They also can be sent to out-of-town physicians with compatible computer software for assistance with diagnoses.

The Somatom Sensation 64 uses X-rays to create the images, but the machine uses only the amount of radiation needed to "see" through parts of the body.

"It's a much lower dose, and it's much safer than the old machine," Williams said.

Previously, a CT scan used an X-ray strength to compensate for the thickest body part. Now, the X-rays are automatically adjusted for whatever body part is being imaged.

Williams said vendors have told him the Columbus hospital is the first in the state to provide patients with the advanced capabilities of the 64-row scanner. Major medical facilities in Omaha and Lincoln will be setting up similar machines in the next few months.