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For Immediate Release
April 28, 2004
Mercy Has Most
Detailed CT Scanning Ability in Central Oklahoma
Oklahoma City
— Without new technology at Mercy that provides extremely detailed images
of the human body, 23-year-old Krista Smith’s story might not be so
bright. When Smith recently began experiencing side pain, she chocked it
up to back pain. As the pain intensified, she ended up in Mercy’s
Emergency Room.
“It was so
intense, I couldn’t breathe,” said Smith, a Mercy CT tech. After
undergoing a computed tomography (CT) scan with Mercy’s four multi-slice
scanner, doctors could tell that Smith’s pain was due to kidney stones,
but they couldn’t determine if the stones were causing partial or total
obstruction. Without knowing for certain, Smith was admitted to Mercy in
the likelihood that she would soon pass the kidney stones and not require
surgery.
In the
meantime, Mercy’s new CT scanner—the only one of its kind in central
Oklahoma— became operational, providing even greater detail than current
scanners. “This scanner takes 16 pictures of thinner slices of the human
body rather than just four pictures, making the images incredibly
detailed,” said Rick Gunckel, director of Mercy’s radiology. “The current
technology provides good pictures, but this new scanner provides more
options when we need additional detail.”
When an
additional scan with the new technology was performed, it was clearer that
Smith’s kidney stone was causing severe obstruction. With that, surgery
was scheduled.
But besides the
clarity of images, Smith, who works day in and day out as a CT tech, was
impressed with the new CT’s creature comforts. “This new scanner is
tailored to a person on the go,” she said. “It took less than five minutes
for the scan, versus 15 minutes before. I also only had to hold my breath
for 10 seconds instead of 50 seconds. It may not sound like much, but when
you are in severe pain, 15 minutes is a long time to sit still on a flat
table.”
With the new
technology, Mercy can perform 3D virtual colonoscopies, as well as gather
clearer images for stroke assessment, angiography studies, cancer care,
pulmonary emboli, inner ear ailments, liver exams and more.
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