Leamington District Memorial Hospital has a brand new CT scanner, and it's a lot better than the old one.
The old CT scanner was donated to the hospital in 2004, and it could scan an organ, taking images in 16 slices. By comparison, Director of Corporate Services Rose Costa says the new scanner takes images in 128 slices. With Gemstone Spectral Imaging, it's the first of its kind installed in Ontario.
"It can actually determine the chemical composition of an organ or point of interest," says Costa. "If you have a kidney stone, before you would see a kidney stone. Now you can see what the kidney stone is made of."
Previously, doctors would have either had to perform surgery or wait for the stone to pass, send the stone to a lab and then, wait for results.
The scanner also throws off less radiation and works faster, so patients don't have to remain still on the table for as long, something that matters a lot considering how many patients require a CT scan.
"We do about 5,000 patients a year on them," says Costa. "They would do 25 or 30 patients a day."
That could increase with the new technology; good news for cancer patients, and patients suffering from severe headaches and sinus pain.
The $1.3-million scanner is funded entirely by the Leamington District Memorial Hospital Foundation and is part of the more than $3.2-million invested in new diagnostic imaging equipment at the hospital. A 3D mammography machine and Ultrasound machine have already been added to the upgraded Women's Centre which hosts the only Ontario Breast Screen Centre outside Windsor.