Innovation Reduces Exposure To Radiation

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Pictured is the Toshiba 64 slice CT scanner. Recent software upgrades allow doctors to see more details than ever before. (Photo courtesy of Tim Tyler, JPH)
Pictured is the Toshiba 64 slice CT scanner. Recent software upgrades allow doctors to see more details than ever before. (Photo courtesy of Tim Tyler, JPH)

by SheRico Jones

A technological advancement in Jackson Park hospitals imaging department is making it possible to reconstruct x-ray images in 3D on a single workstation and most importantly, reduce patients exposure to radiation. The department recently underwent a software upgrade and added the Toshiba 64 slice CT scanner.

We wanted to reduce radiation exposure to patients and get a more detailed image at the same time, Director of Imaging Services, Timothy Tyler said. After the earthquakes in Japan, we realize that the community is now more radiation conscious, so we took the initiative to see how to reduce exposure. We want [the community] to know that we are taking every step to improve our equipment, he said.

The new software allows the hospital to reduce and track a patients exposure to radiation, while simultaneously obtaining a more detailed image. It also allows radiation levels to be monitored and adjusted based on the patients weight and age. Additionally, the scanner is now more enhanced.

Its more accurate, more precise and image resolution has been improved 50% with less radiation, Assistant Director of Imaging Cardell Gentry said. And normally, to optimize resolution, radiation had to be increased; this is no longer the case, he added.

Gentry has been with Jackson Park Hospital for almost 30 years and was instrumental in the hospital bringing the Toshiba 64 slice CT scanner on board.

A CT scan is more commonly known as a CAT (Computed Axial Tomography) scan, a procedure that is much more detailed than an x-ray. During a CT scan the patient lies down on the table and the tube moves around the patient in a circular motion. A CT scanner can cut images into millimeter slices producing more detailed images. Jackson Park is the first hospital on the south east side (after University of Chicago) to have this particular scanner.

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