California hospital expands imaging fleet

Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calififornia, expanded its imaging capabilities by 11 portable machines, the hospital announced July 13.

The facility installed nine new machines and retrofitted two existing systems with the new software to allow physicians to bring imaging capabilities to patients in the emergency room and to inpatients in the hospital who cannot travel to the imaging department.

The new installations are called Carestream DRX-Revolution Mobile X-Ray Systems, while the newly installed programs on the older machines were retrofitted with DRX Plus 3543C. And one new, smaller DRX 2530C machine was purchased for use on infants.

The new machines will help the hospital perform its average of 150,000 imaging exams a year. The two new machines headed for the hospital’s emergency department will handle 2,300 exams per month alone.

Hospital officials touted the benefits to patient care they’ll see with the machines’ smaller profiles, lower necessary doses of radiation, improved image quality and high portability. 

“Converting from CR to DR has not only improved image quality, it also has lowered the dose required to obtain an excellent image. This is especially important for our ICU and NICU patients, so we have installed cesium detectors in these areas to deliver the lowest dose possible while maintaining extremely high-quality imaging,” Huntington Manager of Radiology Ranilo Blasco said.