Purdue Veterinary School to install new CT scanner
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine will enhance its medical image technology resources for animal patients, thanks to a gift from a local hospital.
The CT scanner is a donation from St. Elizabeth Regional Health, which recently moved to a new hospital location at St. Elizabeth East. The computed tomography imaging system will be installed in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Lynn Hall on Tuesday (March 2), and it will be operational for patient use by Friday (March 5). This unit replaces the device that was installed in 2004.
The CT scanner, which offers cross-sectional digital imagery for diagnosis of internal injury and disease, is one of only three CT machines in Indiana to serve animal patients and the only CT available for large animal imaging. The new unit is faster, which will be more convenient for individual animal patients and will allow more patients to be scanned each day, says James Naughton, a clinical assistant professor of radiology. More than 240 animals are scanned on the machine annually.
The computer-based diagnostic machine, commonly used for human patients, creates detailed cross-sectional images of soft tissue and bone, which is helpful in locating and diagnosing internal injuries and conditions. The images can be reconstructed to make three-dimensional graphics that can aid in surgery and can be used to map the location of tumors for surgical removal as well as radiation therapy.
The new scanner is part of an expanded imaging suite, which also will feature a magnetic resonance imaging machine. The suite will be completed this spring.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: James Naughton, jfnaught@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Journalists interested in covering the CT scanner installation can attend at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday (March 2) at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Lynn Hall. James Naughton, a clinical assistant professor of radiology, and Donna Tudor, radiology technician, will be available to answer media questions.