Innovations in Imaging at Our New Eden Hospital

Posted on Jul 9, 2012

By Bryan Daylor, vice president of ancillary services at Eden Medical Center

Radiologic imaging is often used as the first step to accurately diagnose an illness or condition. The art and science of taking images of the human body has evolved leaps and bounds since the first X-ray machines.

Digital Fluoroscopy Installation

Gamma Camera Scanner Installation

Here’s a quick look at some of the high-tech imaging equipment we’re installing at our new hospital in Castro Valley.

• Biplane surgical rooms: Our new hospital will have two biplane surgical rooms that will provide high-resolution imaging for any type of vascular, neurological or spinal surgery. Biplane imaging is fixed, digital X-ray technology that uses two mounted rotating cameras to take simultaneous images in real time. Clinicians reconstruct these pictures into three-dimensional images on a computer screen to see detailed vessel and soft tissue anatomy.

Bi-Plane Installation

• PET/CT (Positron emission tomography/computed tomography): Our PET/CT scanner will allows us to produce very detailed three-dimensional images of structural and metabolic processes. This imaging study involves the injection of a tracer: a short-lived radioactive substance that often contains fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a sugar, that helps illuminate tissue. PET/CT is commonly used to examine the spread of cancer in the body because tumors absorb sugar at a higher rate than other parts of the body. When scanned by a PET/CT system, this concentration of radioactive sugar makes the tumors show up brighter on the images, so doctors can tell if cancer has spread or if it has receded.
  

  Installation of our PET/CT scanner

• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CT (computed tomography): Other advanced imaging equipment includes our 3.0 tesla MRI scanner and two 128-slice CT scanners. Providing greater speed and higher resolution, our scanners will allow clinicians to capture more detailed images in less time, leading to a quicker diagnosis.
  

  The new building was designed for the exterior panel to be removed for installation and future replacement of the MRI. Here, workers are using a crane to load the MRI into the new hospital.

• Breast and colorectal imaging: Imaging innovations will include breast MRI and three-dimensional breast imaging for mammography. We will also be adding colorectal MRI procedures.