El Camino Hospital, an acute-care, 443-bed hospital in California, has installed three Carestream DRX-Revolution Mobile X-Ray systems and two DRX-Mobile Retrofit kits on its campuses in Mountain View and Los Gatos. All the systems come with wireless cesium iodide detectors.
The DRX-Revolution on the hospital’s Mountain View campus is dedicated to the neonatal ICU, while two DRX-Revolution systems capture up to 90 images a day in the ER, OR, and for bedside inpatient exams. At the Los Gatos location, two existing portable systems were retrofitted with wireless DR detectors. Those machines perform about 60 general x-ray exams in all areas of the hospital.
“In addition to a collapsible column, motorized driving, better maneuverability, and a host of other features, one of the key factors in our decision was the system’s powerful 32kW generator,” said Howard Sanford, El Camino Hospital’s imaging operations manager. “This generator makes it possible to produce better image quality for thicker body parts, such as abdominal exams and lateral lumbar spines, because it can capture these exams with shorter exposure times. Shorter exposures can also reduce patient radiation dose and help eliminate patient movement.”
The DRX-Revolution located in the neonatal ICU uses the small-format DRX 2530C detector, which fits into a tray under the incubator. “It’s important to avoid moving these babies because they are linked to tubes and lines that can be dislocated. We also don’t want to expose them to ambient air or cause additional stress,” Sanford said.
Carestream’s pediatric software provides image processing for seven different pediatric weight and age categories, linked to exposure techniques. The tool uses the IEC standard exposure index feature to help technologists verify that each exam is within acceptable range prior to capturing the X-ray image.
For more information, visit Carestream.
