Video: CHKD's new device gives quick, safer scans

NORFOLK

When it comes to radiation - especially with a child - a few seconds can mean a lot.

After all, a person's radiation exposure builds up over a lifetime.

That's why Dr. Jennifer Rush is so excited about the new computed tomography scanner at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

An angiogram that used to take 10 seconds, now takes less than one. And the new machine automatically gives lower radiation doses to less-dense areas on her small patients' bodies. They're now receiving up to 51 percent less radiation during CT scans, according to Rush's calculations.

"It's awesome," Rush said. "I don't know how else to put it."

The new machine is a $1.6 million Siemens dual-source Somatom Definition Flash system. It's 6-1/2 feet tall, weighs 5,688 pounds, and is faster, sharper and safer than the old model, which CHKD returned to Siemens.

The old scanner had one X-ray source. The new one has two tubes operating at once.

CHKD doctors use it to get a better look at patients' heads, hearts, chests and pelvises.

The new scanner's cross-sectional images come in a much higher resolution, providing more detailed pictures of children's hearts, which are hard to capture because they beat so quickly.

And that speed.

So fast children might not even have to hold their breaths while waiting for the image to be made. So fast that they're less likely to need sedation during the scan.

"That makes the parents very happy," said Rush, the co-director of CHKD's cardiology imaging program. "It makes us happy."

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com