The C.T. Scanner is located at 830 Scenic Drive (the former Stanislaus Medical Center) on the second floor in the Radiology Department. The Picker MX Twin spiral CT Scanner is a replacement of the Siemens DRH scanner that was originally installed in 1987.

The new scanner is a significant improvement in technology for the Agency and will allow for much better, faster and more detailed scanning procedures. The new equipment features a powerful computer processor allowing for amazing 3-dimensional, color pictures of scanned body parts. CT Scanning is a diagnostic tool used to examine bones, tumors, joints, blood flow and various body organs.

The new scanner is believed to be one of the best in San Joaquin Valley.

According to Bev Finley, Managing Director of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, "We're excited to upgrade our technology in this area. Our previous scanner was becoming outdated and was not Y2K compliant. Our new scanner is a significant improvement in quality and will allow us to provide an outstanding level of care for our patients."

The Agency provides service to commercial HMO and PPO plans as well as Medicare, Medi-Cal and medically indigent patients.

The installation of the 2 ½ ton scanner took nearly a month to complete – including time for the manufacturer to fly the scanner from Israel to the United States, removal of the previous scanner and some minor room renovations.

Dr. David Li, clinical radiologist for the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency believes that the CT scanner provides some of the most current technology in the central valley. "The installation of the new scanner brings us state-of-the-art technology, and that means we have increased our ability to catch disease early and save lives."

Picker's MxTwinTM is the world's first multislice CT scanner. The MxTwin incorporates dual-slice technology, solid-state detectors and high-heat capacity X-ray tubes to provide double-helix spiral scanning for outstanding clinical performance. MxTwin's technology simultaneously delivers two spiral slices for twice the data at every gantry revolution, cutting scan times in half and effectively doubling the X-ray tube efficiency. All of this is achieved with no compromise in image quality.

Picker's MxTwin has over 600 installations and over 10 million multislice exams performed.

Powerful scanning capabilities include a 7.0 MHU X-ray tube, 1.5 second TurboFlash cycle time and 100 seconds of spiral on time for fastest spiral coverage.

The CT scanner is a doughnut-shaped machine that takes pictures of cross-sections of the body, called "slices." CT can see inside the brain and other parts of the body, into areas that cannot be seen on regular x-ray examinations. CT makes it possible to diagnose certain diseases earlier and more accurately than with other imaging tools. Because most diseases

How CT Works
(source www.Imaginis.com):

A CT scanner looks like a big, square doughnut. The patient aperture (opening) is 60 cm to 70 cm (24" to 28") in diameter. Inside the covers of the CT scanner is a rotating frame which has an x-ray tube mounted on one side and the banana shaped detector mounted on the opposite side. A fan beam of x-ray is created as the rotating frame spins the x-ray tube and detector around the patient (see figure below). Each time the x-ray tube and detector make a 360° rotation, an image or "slice" has been acquired. This "slice" is collimated (focused) to a thickness between 1 mm and 10 mm using lead shutters in front of the x-ray tube and x-ray detector.

As the x-ray tube and detector make this 360° rotation, the detector takes numerous snapshots (called profiles) of the attenuated x-ray beam. Typically, in one 360° lap, about 1,000 profiles are sampled. Each profile is subdivided spatially (divided into partitions) by the detectors and fed into about 700 individual channels. Each profile is then backwards reconstructed (or "back projected") by a dedicated computer into a two-dimensional image of the "slice" that was scanned.

Multiple computers are used to control the entire CT system. The main computer that orchestrates the operation of the entire system is called the "host computer." There is also a dedicated computer that reconstructs the "raw CT data" into an image. A workstation with a mouse, keyboard and other dedicated controls allows the technologist to control and monitor the exam. The CT gantry and table have multiple microprocessors that control the rotation of the gantry, movement of the table (up/down and in/out), tilting of the gantry for angled images, and other functions such as turning the x-ray beam on an off.

Graphic of how CT works
(source www.Imaginis.com)

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) is an outpatient medical system with 9 medical offices located throughout Stanislaus County. The HSA also operates the Public Health Department, an Urgent Care Center and multiple programs serving over 400,000 patients and clients each year in Stanislaus County. The HSA also is in local partnerships for the MOMobile project and the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Program.