Rochelle Community Hospital

Rochelle Community Hospital announced today that it has installed the Aquilion™ 64 from Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. – an advanced computed tomography (CT) system available for evaluating and treating trauma patients. The new system can quickly scan any region of the body for injury in just seconds, providing the essential information needed to evaluate patients that present to the Emergency Room with possible internal injuries. In most U.S. hospitals, it is estimated that CT scanning accounts for more than 10 percent of diagnostic radiology examinations. (1)

In addition to fast CT scans, Rochelle Community Hospital expects to significantly increase its exam capacity – which means more patients can receive the treatment they need faster and be referred to surgery or discharged from the hospital. In an emergency room setting, when every second counts, the Aquilion 64 scanner will allow physicians to quickly identify injuries to the internal organs and make a confident diagnosis.

“Rochelle and Ogle County residents have immediate access to the best CT technology available today. In fact, the same CT technology used by Johns Hopkins University Hospital.” said Gregory Olson , Chief Executive Officer at RCH. “For trauma patients like auto accident victims, this may prove to be lifesaving technology due to the system’s ability to deliver precise images of bones, organs and internal bleeding than older, less advanced CT systems. For patients with blood clots, infections, and diseases like cancer, early diagnosis with the Aquilion 64 may result in a much earlier diagnosis and faster treatment.”

About the Aquilion 64 System

The Aquilion 64 is designed to offer physicians greater diagnostic capabilities by helping patients to avoid more invasive medical procedures. The system delivers clinical images with multislice imaging technology that captures up to 64 anatomical slices in a single rotation. A computer constructs these “slices” to produce the 3-D image. In addition, the system’s sensitivity and accuracy are enhanced with a process called isotropic scanning, which results in images that most accurately capture equal views and angles of internal structures. As a result, Toshiba’s multislice technology captures precise images of the body’s rapidly moving organs like the heart and lungs, which appear blurry when scanned by a traditional CT. Multislice imaging also is especially useful for examining patients who are unable to hold their breath, like trauma victims, acutely ill patients and young children.

RCH Technology Advances

RCH Diagnostic Imaging staff completed extensive training at Toshiba Medical Systems in Tustin , California to operate the new CT scanner. Over the last two years, the department has introduced a new digital picture archiving system (PACS) allowing physicians and radiologists to view the images on-line as well as installation of new fluoroscopy and ultra sound equipment. Nuclear medicine will be updated in the near future and RCH continues to work on obtaining an in-house MRI which will eliminate the need for the current mobile unit.

(1) CT scanning: patterns of use and dose; Jr F.A.M.; Wiest P.W.; Locken J.A.; Kelsey C.A.; Journal of Radiological Protection, Volume 20, Number 4, 2000, pp. 353-359(7): Institute of Physics Publishing