Tuality/OHSU Cancer Center gets new CT scan equipment

October 05, 2011

The Tuality/OHSU Cancer Center LLC is the proud owner of new CT scan equipment that can handle today’s increasingly sophisticated treatment plans, has advanced software that helps enhance images of people with metal replacement joints and is able to handle large patients up to 650 pounds. 

The equipment was delivered on Monday and will be installed this week. Technicians will do calibration work the following week. Two staff members are currently in Cleveland, Ohio undergoing training and will do onsite training the week of Oct. 17. The center plans to use the new equipment on its first patient during the week of Oct. 17. 

“With the advancements in treatment planning, our equipment advances as well,” said Tina Dickerson, director of the Tuality/OHSU Cancer Center. “This newer CT has the latest in software technology, capable of adding a 4^th dimension to our treatment planning scans.” 

The new machine is called a Philips Brilliance CT Big Bore scanner and is manufactured by Philips Healthcare, part of global electronics giant Philips Electronics. It cost $672,000 and was paid for by the partnership operated jointly by Tuality and Oregon Health & Science University. 

The new equipment has two main features that set it apart from other CT scanners:

• The bore size is larger, 85 centimeters vs. 60 centimeters in the old CT scanner, allowing access to obese patients. It also allows CT scanning of patients with immobilization devices, respirator devices and other apparatus. In addition, the CT scanner table is able to hold a patient that weighs up to 650 pounds. The old equipment was limited to around 400 pounds.
• The device has advanced software that helps minimize motion in images, and helps cut down on glare or refraction from metals such as knee replacements, hip replaces, and in tooth fillings.

The equipment has two distinct advantages for Tuality, said Dave Foster, director of diagnostic imaging.  Tuality Healthcare will no longer have to transfer obese patients to other hospitals. It’s routine, Foster said, to send a number of patients each month to Portland hospitals. And the metal artifact reduction software gives better images for the increasing number of patients with implanted metal devices. 

Dickerson is excited because the new CT scanner will enhance the cancer center’s  ability to make treatment scanning faster for patients and allow the cancer center to continue in its advancement in cancer care for the community.