Patient safety ‘State-of-the-art’ CT andMRI systems
The new imaging facility at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital incorporates a GE Healthcare Discovery CT750 HD CT scanner, which themanufacturer says ‘enables the world’s first high definition CT’. Physicians are promised ‘up to a 47%
improvement in image quality’, ‘up to 50% dose reduction across the entire body’, and ‘exceptional spectral imaging capabilities’. Reportedly the world’s first head and
whole body HD imaging scanner, the Discovery CT750 is said to deliver ‘up to 33% improvements in spatial resolution for body scanmodes’, and up to a 47% such improvement for cardiac scan modes. GE Healthcare adds:
“Equally importantly, the scanner offers a revolutionary advanced reconstruction algorithm, resulting in dramatically reduced doses, up to 50% lower than predecessor systems. The Discovery CT750 HD CT scanner is indicated for head, whole
body, cardiac, and vascular X-ray XCT applications.” The second scanning roomhouses a
Philips Ingenia 1.5 TMRI system, claimed to be ‘the world’s first digital broadband MR system’. Philips says: “The Ingenia delivers high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), for enhanced image quality and speed. Philips digital broadbandMRI technology introduces digital signal acquisition and processing directly in the RF receive coil nearest the patient. By digitising the signal directly in the RF receive coil, and maintaining the digital connection throughout the scanning process, Ingenia generates up to a 40 per cent improvement in its SNR, in turn increasing speed and image resolution.
“Ingenia incorporates an Philips Ingenia MRI unit.
Checking staff Simon Collinge emphasised that care needed to be taken not only to ensure that patients had no displaceable ferromagnetic objects on them, but also that staff were free of them. Despite the potential risks posed by
patients still ‘wearing’ loose metal objects entering the MRI room, and good knowledge of the risks among the relevant staff, Simon Collinge said the number of UK hospitals with ferromagnetic detection equipment actually installed was still currently ‘relatively small’. He said: “FMD systems are still ‘a new technology’, although it is clear, frompractice, that such equipment adds a reassuring additional level of safety within the growing number of units in which they are installed.”
Valuable safety feature Dr Hogg said of the Metrasens equipment at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital: “We viewed the installation of the Metrasens system as a very valuable additional safety feature. Despite the rigorous pre-procedural checks that patients undergo, I have known of patients trying to enter the scanning room with, for instance, a mobile phone hidden on them. A really cautious approach is thus always advisable.” Explaining in straightforward terms
how Metrasens’s FMD equipment ‘works’, Simon Collinge said that, as with other
74 Health Estate Journal September 2013
integrated, hidden posterior coil, enabling full body coverage, and eliminating the need to placemultiple connecting coils around various parts of the body. The coils are also lighter, and, this factor, together with the reduction in coil placement, reduces unnecessary
MRI FMD entry control point systems, the Ferroguard Guardian system installed at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital operates 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a week, ‘detecting disturbances in the earth’s magnetic field, and that of the magnet’s perimeter field, created by moving ferromagnetic material’. Detection is via a pair of special sensor-poles, generally wall mounted, between which patients must pass before entering the scanning room.
‘Traffic light’ display The ‘disturbances’ detected could be due to a patient with a ferromagnetic object ‘on them’ approaching the sensor-poles. He said: “On detecting a disturbance, the system reports that disturbance’s ‘strength’ via a ‘traffic light-type’ display on top of the sensor-poles, and a series of LEDs mounted on a panel close to the MRI room door. These go from ‘green’, through amber, to ‘red’, depending on the size of the ferromagnetic signature detected. The ferromagnetic detection process takes place as the patient approaches the MRI room; if the LED lights go red, they must stop, so staff can identify the ferromagnetic items on them, and, if these are loose, remove them.”
LED panels The Ferroguard components are generally located at the MRI room door, with the
The GE Healthcare Discovery CT750 HD CT scanner, which the manufacturer says ‘enables the world’s first high definition CT’, while delivering ‘a 47% improvement in image quality’, and ‘up to 50% dose reduction across the entire body’.
preparation time, for up to a 30 per cent increase in workflow improvement. “As digitisation occurs in the RF coil,
the channels available are determined by the coils, rather than the system. The Ingenia is thus future-proof. Users need not worry about upgrading RF receive channels to keep up with advances in coil technology, as the Ingenia enables plug- and-play expansion of clinical capabilities withoutmajor hardware upgrades. The Ingenia was developed for a wide range of patients of different ages, sizes, and physical conditions.”
multi-LED display in clear view. Simon Collinge added: “As well as the coloured ‘traffic lights’, there is an audible alarm that sounds if the person carrying the ferromagnetic material ignores the visual early warning and reaches the threshold.” Of the installation requirements for a
Metrasens FMD system, he added: “To install Ferroguard, you essentially have to mount a power supply, connect this to the hospital’s electrics, and then run low voltage cable to either side of the door to connect up to each pole. For the most part, these low voltage cables feed through the wall cavity, but with really old buildings, you may have to feed the cabling via surface conduit.”
Early consultation with the architect The Royal Hampshire County Hospital installation, Simon Collinge explained, posed no particular cabling issues. He said: “I always consult with the building contractors and scheme architects (here Roger Lewis Architects inWinchester) about the room layout, and particularly the position of the MRI room door, early in the project, so that any issues with cabling, and the optimal positioning of the power supply and sensor-poles etc., can be identified as soon as possible. “In fact at the point that the Foundation
Trust team inWinchester decided to buy a Ferroguard system, late last year, we
Courtesy of GE Healthcare
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