Allen County Hospital recently received accreditation from the American College of Radiation for its use of its CT scanner.
David-Paul Cavazos, director of radiology at the hospital, said the hospital received the prestigious certification on its first try, a three-month process that shows the lowest dose of radiation possible is used to get superior results.
“I was hesitant we could meet the ACR standards because we have only a 4-slice machine,” Cavazos said. Current models are 32- and 64-slice, which means more pictures are taken of a person’s bones and soft tissue to get a good idea of their condition.
CT scans take cross-sectional images of a body of different thicknesses — or slices. Newer models have the capability to reformat the data in 3D.
“We hope to have at least a 32-slice model when we move into the new hospital,” Cavazos said. Average use of the machines is seven years before their capabilities get outdated, he said.