Demonstrating the new portable CT scanner: Cooper CT Technologists Ross Paparone,
Timothy Matthews (as the patient) and Jason Orr.
Cooper University Health Care is the first hospital in New Jersey to offer the Siemens SOMATOM, the latest generation of portable CT scanners.
Portable CT scanners allow critically ill or medically fragile patients to receive a CT scan without having to leave the bedside or be moved.
“As a leading academic health system, we treat some of the most complex and critically ill patients. We recognize that every patient had unique needs, and we are excited to add this newest technology to our diagnostic services,” said Elliot Vazquez, CRA, administrative director of Radiology at Cooper.
Patients who will most benefit from this new technology are those who are bed bound and suspected of having brain bleeds, suffering stroke symptoms, or those needing a diagnosis related to brain disease. The SOMATOM portable CT scanner will minimize patient transports and thereby reduce staff resources , while enabling the medical team to obtain reliable and consistent diagnostic images at the point of care.
The device will be particularly useful for patients in the Intensive Care Unit who often are connected to multiple life-support devices. It typically takes 20 minutes or more to prepare and disconnect a patient for transport to a conventional, fixed CT scanner, and a nurse and patient transporter are required to accompany the patient. A portable CT scan requires about half the time of a static CT scan and the patient stays in their hospital room.
Members of Cooper’s Radiology Department leadership and clinical teams: Michael Connelly, director of Radiology; Elliot Vazquez, administrative director, Timothy Matthews, CT technologist, Jason Orr, CT Technologist, Ross Paparone, CT technologist, Bridget Downey, CT Supervisor; Todd Siegal, MD, department chief and chairman of Radiology; and Dawn Vitarelli, manager, Cross Sectional Imaging.
“The SOMATOM is a great asset for the care team, and there are multiple benefits to patients and hospitals,” said Todd L. Siegal, MD, chief and chair of the Department of Radiology at Cooper. “By eliminating the need for transport we not only potentially can make a quicker diagnosis, but there is also corresponding reduction in patient scans on our fixed CT units, allowing for more patient scans overall.”