CT660 Optima comes to Springville's Bertrand Chaffee Hospital

SPRINGVILLE — For patients at Bertrand Chaffee Hospital in Springville needing CT scans, the recent arrival of the CT660 offers many health benefits, all of which Bertrand Chaffee Hospital Radiologist Anne Ehrlich said she is excited about.

An employee of the hospital’s since 1982, Ehrlich said she views this machine’s arrival as proof that the hospital not only continues to provide state-of-the-art care, but also keeping current on things that concerns its patients the most.

“There is more and more concern throughout the population that people getting CTs are being exposed to significant amounts of radiation,” Ehrlich said. “It’s become a big concern.”

Computer tomography scans take X-rays from various angles and combine them to create cross-sectional images. Because it involves much more radiation than traditional X-rays, CT technology has come under the microscope throughout the world. A recent study by a British medical journal The Lancet reported that 74 cases of leukemia and 135 cases of brain cancer were diagnosed in a group of 180,000 children who had received CT scans from 1985 – 2002.

Approximately 4 million children receive this type of scan in the United States per year, according to The New York Times. Researchers estimated that a third of those scans are unnecessary or could be replaced by “safer” tests like ultrasounds, which do not use radiation.

The CT660, which one General Electric representative at Bertrand Chaffee said is the first to be used in Western New York, is intended to reduce the amount of radiation exposure by as much as 40 percent, while, at the same time, providing high resolution images necessary for radiologists and physicians to do their jobs.

According to Ehrlich, the hospital had a state-of-the-art scanner, prior to the 660. “It was as good as a machine could be, to the very end,” she said.

The radiologist added that CT scans are important and, oftentimes, lifesavers. In certain situations, like diagnosing severe head injuries, Ehrlich said CT scans are critical. With other, less serious medical concerns, however, a trip to a CT scanner can expose adults and children to unnecessary amounts of radiation. “Studies have shown that even the smallest amount of exposure can increase the likelihood of getting cancer,” Ehrlich said.

With the former CT scanner, radiologists at Bertrand Chaffee had to take several images of the patient. Patients can now undergo a single pass, in most scenarios, accomplishing what the former machine did but more quickly and with less radiation exposure. “There was a lot of overlapping; a lot of radiation,” Ehrlich said.

Staff members at Bertrand Chaffee have been training on the new machine since it was installed last week. The CT660 follows other recent hospital equipment improvements and upgrades, including a bone density machine and a digital mammography machine and related technology.

“[The hospital] has worked hard over the years to provide the population with what they deserve,” Ehrlich said. “We provide a great service here.”

For more information, call 592-8169 or visit www.bertrandchaffee.com.