Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County earned a three year accreditation in computed tomography from the American College of Radiology according to a recent release from the hospital.
According to Medical Imaging Director Tracie Soller, the accreditation is for the new CT scanner the hospital installed last summer.
“We have been ACR accredited for CT since 2013,” she said.
CT scanning, also commonly known as CAT scanning, is a noninvasive test using X-rays to produce a cross sectional image of a person’s body.
“Scanning divides the body up like slices of bread,” Soller said in MHSC’s media release. “Each image is like pulling up one slice of the loaf and looking at it.”
The image is then created using a computer rebuild the slices and develop an image.
The 64-slice scanner employed by the hospital offers more detail than scanners using a lower slice number, which allows doctors better information when making a diagnosis. According to MHSC’s release, their 64-slice scanner is the only scanner of its type in the region.
According to MHSC’s Chief Financial Officer Tami Love, the replacement project spanned nearly one year, from planning and CT selection phases to delivery and construction. The project cost MHSC more than $1.2 million, with the Siemens 64-slice scanner costing $702,000 and construction costs amounting to $573,000. The scanner installed replaced a 13-year-old, 64-slice scanner the hospital previously used.
According to the release, the accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety.
Soller said the ACR maintains a long list of qualifications for the radiologists, physicists and technologists working in CT.
“Everyone involved in CT operations must meet the qualifications set by the American College of Radiology,” Soller said.
The accreditation is only awarded to facilities meeting ACR’s practices and standards after submitting to a peer-reviewed evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field.
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