Scottish hospital installs two CT scanners

Victoria Hospital in Scotland has installed two SOMATOM Definition AS+ CT systems for imaging inpatients and general outpatient work, cardiac and CT colonography procedures.

The hospital, operated by NHS Fife, will use the systems to support A&E work and the acute surgery and acute medicine departments round the clock.

The system, from Siemens Healthcare, obtains rapid coverage, with 128 slices per rotation. Combined with a temporal resolution of 150ms, images are free from movement artefacts and provide a high level of anatomical detail for enhanced diagnosis. It also features Adaptive 4D Spiral capabilities, allowing clinicians to view whole organ coverage in 4D. Rapid examination times conducted at the lowest possible dose also help when imaging children, bariatric or claustrophobic patients.

The equipment is linked to Siemens’ syngo.via multi-modality advanced visualisation solution which automatically prepares cases for reading according to condition-specific requirements and features full workstation capabilities.

The solution is creating efficiencies within hospital departments as it can be accessed from any computer, allowing images to be shared anywhere on site or even to neighbouring NHS Fife hospitals

“We chose the two CT systems as they offered the perfect balance of radiographic ease of use and excellent image quality,” said Dr Mark Jones, clinical director of the ambulatory care division at Victoria Hospital. “The two SOMATOM Definition AS+ CT systems have enabled us to streamline our workflows, allowing us to shorten inpatient imaging times – all are now imaged and reported in the same day. In addition the syngo.via gives our consultants the ability to report complex examinations without needing to be in the CT department, or even the same hospital.”