State of the art
Wadley’s latest addition captures X-ray ‘movies’
Wadley Regional Medical Center is the second hospital in the country to receive a state-of-the-art fluoroscopy system, which will help diagnose and treat various conditions.
Fluoroscopy is a study of moving body structures, similar to an X-ray “movie.” A continuous X-ray beam is passed through the body part being examined such as an upper gastrointestinal series to examine the esophagus, stomach and small intestine, or a barium enema to examine the colon. The beam is transmitted to a monitor so that the body part and its motion can be seen in detail.
“The new digital Philips fluoroscopy system is state-of-the-art and is one of only two in the United States,” said Shelby Brown, Wadley director of marketing. “Flown in from Germany, the new Philips CombiDiagnost R90 is a remote controlled fluoroscopy system in combination with high-end digital radiography.”
“With cutting-edge digital radiography capabilities, it converts a traditional fluoroscopy room into a high throughput 2-in-1 solution. This system offers fast, confident diagnoses with superb images while reducing radiation exposure through automatic adjustments. Other advantages include the ability to handle patients weighing up to 626 pounds without restricting movement and the tabletop is able to accommodate mobile compromised patients by lowering the tabletop to easily transfer. The increased weight capacity is very important because in the past, these large patients were not able to have the exam performed,” Brown said.
“Before having this new capability, there was a need to use fluoroscopy prior to the actual test to determine the required parameters. This is no longer needed for digital exposures. Short exposure times with automatic adjustment in real time for all patients and applications to guarantee consistent, high image quality without motion blur regardless of the patient’s individual physical characteristics,” Brown said.
Wadley’s radiologic technologists have been trained on the new equipment to ensure patient comfort and quality images for accurate diagnosis.