The General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital (GHWACH) at Ft Leonard Missouri http://glwach.amedd.army.mil is now home to the Army’s most advanced Computerized Tomography (CT) system able to produce a 3D image of the entire heart in less than one heartbeat.
The new system, called the “Toshiba Aquilion One” CT scanning system can take sophisticated images up to 640 image slices in a single scan. This is because of its eight inch detector which is twice as wide as other comparable machines. The wider detector allows the system to capture complete images of organs, such as the heart in one scan rather than multiple scans that have to be stitched together electronically.
The system uses a technique called Adaptive Iterative Dose Reduction which reduces patient dosage of radiation. In addition, the system features a unique Single Energy Metal Artifact Reduction software algorithm that reduces image streaking that can happen when a patient has metal in their body from surgical screws or prosthetics.
Because the Army has been modernizing their medical technology, the thinking is that using the advanced CT scanning technology could make its way into the battlefield. However, using the scanner in the battlefield could present problems if the environment is harsh.
The Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA) www.usamma.armyu.mil acquired the system as part of the Medical Care Support Equipment (MEDCASE) program. MEDCASE has the responsibility to validate all high dollar medical device requirements through Army Medicine.
The MEDCASE program is facilitated through the Technology Assessment Requirements Analysis (TARA) team. The TARA team visits Medical Treatment Facilities (MTF) and other medical environments to assess medical equipment and clinical needs. Then TARA makes recommendations regarding future acquisitions by providing the MTF a three to five year medical equipment acquisition plan.