New deployable CT scanner arrives at 3 CDSB Edmonton

The new machine, meant to replace the former scanner that had been acquired in 2005 for the mission in Afghanistan, arrived at the Canadian Armed Forces Health Services Centre (Edmonton) (CAF HS C (Edm)) on July 29 and was set up and accepting its first patients by Aug. 23.

The need for Canadian Forces Health Services Group to acquire a new DCTS was the result of new technologies making the 2005 system dated, explained Chief Petty Officer 2nd class Jennifer Murray, Medical Radiation Technologist Technical Advisor.

“The recommended lifespan of most medical imaging equipment is around 12 years, after which maintenance costs increase significantly and the quality of images can no longer meet modern technologies available,” she said.

Among the improvements the new DCTS has over its predecessor is an eight‑fold increase in speed of acquiring images and improved resolution of images – the old machine was a 16‑slice scanner, CPO2 Murray explained, whereas the new one is a 128‑slice scanner capable of taking 128 images at a time. In addition, the image quality itself has improved, with a resolution as small as one millimetre.

“We’re getting higher resolution images in a shorter scan time,” she said. “It’s very comparable to the systems in the civilian hospitals and clinics. We can now provide the same quality of care to our CAF members as our civilian counterparts.”

Having the new DCTS also means the CAF is able to perform a greater number of CT scans on base, instead of sending members to external facilities. There will still be unique cases where a more specialized examination is required and members will be referred to the local civilian facilities, but CPO2 Murray estimated about 90 per cent of required scans can now be completed on base.

However, another benefit of having an upgraded DCTS on base is being able to utilize this specialized skillset of the CAF’s Medical Radiation Technologists and Biomedical Engineering Technologists.

“Both trades have received training from the equipment manufacturer to operate and/or maintain this specific model,” CPO2 Murray explained. “Our technologists can now maintain this skill in their daily practice, and remain competent so that if and when we need to deploy the scanner, our technologists are experts and haven't had any skill-fade.”

While the DCTS is compact and relatively easy to transport, the immediate plan is for it to remain in Edmonton to be used at the Health Care Centre. The intent is to keep it in active use, to keep the technologists’ skills fresh and provide necessary CT scans to CAF members. That said, as it is deployable, it is able to be packed up and moved where needed, as needed.

“The scanner will be used in deployments with the Field hospital, allowing clinicians and surgeons to have the modern technology to diagnose and treat injuries or disease,” CPO2 Murray said. “If there’s a mission that requires advanced medical care capabilities we will prepare the DCTS for deployment with a Field Hospital.”

A CT scanner allows for clinicians to assess and diagnose a wide variety of conditions and injuries throughout the entire body. It can be used to examine the extent of various injuries to the brain and internal organs, or to diagnose a wide range of medical conditions and diseases. CPO2 Murray used the analogy of looking through a loaf of bread. A routine X‑ray image essentially looks at the loaf as a whole, as if you were to look through the loaf from end to end all at once. You might see something wrong in the loaf, but you can’t immediately tell exactly where or what that abnormal finding is.

A CT scanner, on the other hand, is like examining the loaf for problems one slice at a time.

“The images from the CT scanner can be as small as one millimetre slices of your anatomy to take that in-depth look without requiring an invasive medical procedure,” CPO2 Murray said, explaining how detailed the scan can be.