GLOUCESTER ROYAL HOSPITAL ACQUIRES EXTRA CAPACITY WITH A TOSHIBA AQUILION PRIME CT SCANNER

Canon Medical Systems recently installed a Canon Aquilion PRIME 80-slice CT system at Gloucester Royal Hospital. The radiology department already has two other CT systems and the new scanner will add extra capacity, and enable the hospital to offer the very latest in cutting-edge technology to its patients.

David Reed, CT.MR Lead Radiographer, comments, “We are delighted with the Canon Aquilion PRIME CT scanner. The image quality is superb with low radiation doses. We are very impressed with Canon’s unique SURESubtraction technologies, SEMAR Metal Artefact Reduction and lateral couch movement. We are currently redeveloping our cardiac services and improving cardiac CT image quality, while extending the range of patients that can be successfully imaged. Support from Canon applications and service has been excellent.”

Canon’s Aquilion PRIME combines high performance with a small footprint for flexibility in siting without compromise in available techniques. The Aquilion PRIME is ideal for imaging department that need to perform a wide variety and number of routine examinations as well as advanced studies, together with streamlined workflow to obtain maximum quality images at the lowest possible radiation dose. In this respect Canon’s Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction, AIDR 3D, lowers the noise level by up to fifty percent and the patient dose by up to 75 percent compared to conventional scanners.

With pixel-perfect subtraction of bone and calcium, Canon’s SURESubtraction software offers unsurpassed visualisation of vessels and contrast-enhanced tissue structures, providing all the information needed to make a diagnosis with confidence in the shortest time. SEMAR™ technology employs a sophisticated reconstruction algorithm to eliminate artefacts caused by metal, while improving visualisation of the implant, its supporting bone and adjacent soft tissue for an accurate diagnosis. It can be used in routine low-dose scans, and the combination with AIDR 3D provides the best possible image quality without the need for a dedicated scan procedure or additional radiation exposure.

Canon’s unique lateral couch movement of 8.4cm combined with a standard wide bore of 78 cm ensures iso-centric imaging to optimise image quality and dose and prevents further manual handling for the radiographers. This is of great benefit for example, with bariatric patients, immobile patients and for cardiac, orthopaedic, interventional and trauma imaging, where the table can be moved rather than physically move the patient. Patient workflow is improved whilst optimising imaging for the best results.

Image-Gloucester

Shown here, left to right, David Reed, CT/MR Lead Radiographer; Megan Newberry, Account Executive, Canon Medical Systems; Sue Merrick, Superintendent Radiographer; Debby Booth, Advanced Practitioner, CT; Mark Condron, Senior Applications Specialist Canon Medical Systems and Alison Hannam, Deputy Superintendent Radiographer.

Canon Medical Systems has a carbon-zero project in place.   We have calculated the carbon footprint for each of our products to include manufacturing, shipping and delivery and average hospital energy used for the standard lifetime of the equipment as follows: CT equates to 12 stoves and 48,365 litres of water