Leicester Royal Infirmary has installed a CBCT scanner with metal artefact reduction and the latest advances in radiographer assistance.
The Carestream CS 9600 CBCT was installed with the help of service provider, Althea, for Carestream Dental.
It’s the first UK hospital to feature this technology after being chosen as the only site worldwide to undertake clinical verification of this new CBCT platform.
‘Althea would like to thank Hulbert Dental ICT for proposing the LRI to undertake the clinical verification and giving the LRI an opportunity to buy this fantastic piece of equipment,’ Francesca Evans, chief technologist at Althea, said.
‘With advances in technology we’re looking forward to seeing the beneficial outcomes to patients, not only in dental imaging.’
‘Many advantages’
The CS 9600 allows clinicians to scan more than just teeth or maxfacs regions, adding cervical spine and scaphoid imaging.
It can also perform straightforward 2D orthopantomograms and remembers individual patient demographics, further improving workflow for follow-up imaging.
For many images the radiation dose is a fraction of a multi-slice CT scanner and it’s quicker to use.
‘Before the CS9600, we were using the CS9300,’ Colin Ross, radiology site manager, said.
‘We really liked the CS9300, but the CS9600 has many advantages over it.
‘The CS9600 is very easy to use with patient positioning being particularly intuitive.
‘The CS9600 also has a maximum KvP of 120 rather than 90 and offers significantly larger fields of view.’
Tipping point
The CS 9600 scanner has a similar geometry and footprint to an OPT machine, maximising the use of limited space.
For many images the scanner is quicker to use, reducing visits from 15 minutes, to around five minutes.
The scanner will be used in the diagnosis and planning of oral and ENT surgery, as well as the re-direction of a sizable proportion of its Sinus and Temporal Bone imaging from a busy conventional CT service, resulting in a cost improvement plan with significant savings over the financial year.
‘It has been a great pleasure to work with the team at LRI throughout the validation process, with much credit due to the radiographers and radiologists in Balmoral X-ray,’ Tony Hulbert, director at Hulbert Dental ICT, said.
‘It is thanks to their positive and valuable feedback, that we take the CS 9600 forward with great confidence in what could well be a tipping-point in the application of CBCT technology.’
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