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Easy Guide to CT Scanners

siemens mobile CT unit

Computerized tomography scanners or CT scanners have many uses, but they are particularly well-suited for patients with internal injuries or other types of trauma that require a quick examination. However, they also prove useful in diagnosing diseases, detecting “hidden” injuries, and planning a medical, radiation or surgical procedure. 

 

A CT scan combines a series of X-ray images derived from different angles of the body to create multiple cross-section images of the blood vessels, bones and soft tissues. As a result, it provides a more detailed and accurate depiction of the body compared to ordinary X-rays. 

 

Choosing a CT scan brand based on slice count

After about a decade of use, most hospitals and other medical facilities seek to replace their CT scanners, usually with a model that offers more “slice count,” which is closely related to the image quality.  

 

However, models with a higher slice count do not necessarily mean a better option since costs [versus benefits] are considered when making a switch. For example, veterinarian clinics and radiology departments that handle a very limited number of non-emergency patients will have no problem with 4- and 8-slice CT scanners. 

 

By contrast, top-notch scanners (i.e., those with 128-380 slices) are generally reserved for facilities that perform whole-body scans in seconds. Thanks to their incredibly high slice counts, they provide sharp three-dimensional images of any organ, including the heart and vascular system that low slice count CT scanners may find difficult to scan. 

 

Despite the incredibly sharp images of 128-380 CT scanners, they are generally considered excessive in a standard clinical setting, which fairs better with just a 64-slice CT scan that provides accurate images quickly without being too expensive. 

 

As of this writing, the 64-slice CT scanners are the standard models for hospitals and imaging centers with moderate to high patient numbers. Not only can they reduce scan times, but they are also enough for more advanced studies, such as cardiac, although they still require a bit of slowing of the heart rate to get sharp images. 

 

The cost of CT scanners 

Catalina Imaging, one of the leading mobile CT rental companies in the US, explains the factors influencing the price of a CT scanner.

  • Workstation
  • Warranty
  • Installation
  • Injector 
  • Age
  • CT X-ray tube and its tube content
  • Brand 

 

To accommodate the varying needs of hospitals and clinics, Catalina Imaging offers three CT scan brands, namely, GE Mobile CT, Toshiba Mobile CT, and Siemens Mobile CT. These tech companies are known for their innovative products that have revolutionized the way medical imaging procedures are performed. 

 

Best CT Scanners For Your Needs

In a nutshell, the best CT scanners are based on your clinical setting and your patients’ needs. Today’s models can all perform general imaging procedures, such as scanning the internal abdominal organs like the kidneys and liver. 

 

Nevertheless, the cardiac relies on higher slice counts to come up with sufficient image quality. 

 

To learn more about the “ideal” CT scan models and brands for your hospital or clinic, or if you need a reliable provider of mobile CT scanners for your clinical setting, contact Catalina Imaging at info@catalinaimaging.com or (844) 949-1664.

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Lung Damage May Persist Long After COVID-19 Pneumonia

COVID-19 lungs

Lung Damage from Covid-19

 

Pneumonia and COVID-19 can mean long term lung damage.

Pneumonia infects the air sacs of the lungs. These sacs are crucial to our survival, because the air we breathe in is filtered and prepared for use in the bloodstream. When these air sacs become ineffective due to damage, old age, or infection, they cannot release enough oxygen into the bloodstream to keep a person alert and also affect the organs of the body, causing them to shut down one by one. Pneumonia is an infection that preys on the air sac in the lung, causing them to swell up and fill with mucus. In severe cases the air sacs become spongy and porous and can no longer perform their job of transferring vital oxygen into the bloodstream. If this continues for too long the victim lapses into a coma as the brain literally asphyxiates, and then eventually dies.

This is what is happening to some patients who contracted COVID-19 and then came down with pneumonia. Doctors were at first confident that regular medical treatment and prescription drugs for pneumonia would be effective against the pandemic variety. But as the months and now years have gone by, patients who survived COVID-19 and pneumonia and got better are now sometimes relapsing into bronchial distress and even collapsed lungs. This is a grim reminder that the long term effects of the pandemic are still not clearly understood. And effective treatment for long term health problems due to COVID-19 are still not in place.

A big part of the problem is that the immune system reacts differently to pneumonia caused by COVID-19 than to any other type of pneumonia infection. Those patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia retained more fluid in their lungs over a longer period of time, because the immune system apparently kept flushing out toxins long after the need to do so was gone. Hence there is more fluid, fluid that is not reabsorbed back into the body, in Covid-19 pneumonia patients than in regular pneumonia patients. This fluid is a rabid breeding ground for germs and viruses that can suddenly flare up in the lungs at any time for years down the road. This is grim news for patients who thought they had survived the ravages of COVID-19 induced pneumonia.

Another challenge doctors face in the long term treatment of COVID-19 induced pneumonia is that the COVID-19 virus itself attacks the immune system in the lungs, and is not completely eradicated by most standard treatments. This weakens the immune system, sometimes permanently, so that infections can reappear that would otherwise be destroyed by a healthy immune system.

Tests with stronger anti-inflammatory drugs have encouraged medical researchers to believe that the long term damage done by COVID-19 pneumonia can be minimized and even lessened, as long as the patient continues an extended regimen of antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication, and watchful breathing – avoiding smog and smoke as much as possible. Smoking, needless to say, is contraindicated in all cases.

If you’ve had breathing difficulties associated with the COVID-19 virus that have NOT developed into pneumonia you’re not out of the woods yet. You stand a very real chance of lung damage from things like bronchitis or even the flu. So be careful.