New CT scanner for Post Falls business

Kootenai Outpatient Imaging is now operating a new CT scanner, a product of Siemens Manufacturing Solutions, at its office in the Post Falls-based Kootenai Health Park.

The scanner is already making it more convenient for cancer patients to receive tests locally the day they're scheduled for treatments at the nearby Kootenai Cancer Center's new facility in Post Falls.

Formally known as the SOMATOM AS, the scanner boasts high resolution, rapid scans - 20-slice capacity from head to toe in just 20 seconds - and at lower doses of exposure, said Jen Neely, manager of Kootenai Outpatient Imaging.

This generation of scanners delivers life-saving, higher-definition images of hearts, lungs, arteries, veins and bones to enable more targeted, accurate medical treatments and compressed assessment times.

For instance, physicians will see the most detailed information yet with which to determine heart problems, lung function, spinal cord injuries, and tumors and to assess patients suffering multiple traumas.

"This is cutting-edge equipment," Neely said. You don't have to go far for world-renowned care. It's at your front door." Kootenai Outpatient Imaging is a joint venture between Kootenai Health and Radiology Associates of North Idaho.

"We want to be able to support the patient population in northern Idaho. In addition to physicians from Kootenai and around the region, this equipment is also of great use to patients of the Kootenai Heart Center, Kootenai's Emergency Department, area urgent care centers and others."

Images from the scans will be viewable instantly and are accessible along with accompanying radiology reports on Stentor, a digital network connecting physicians' offices, hospitals and PDAs carried by medical professionals.

Kootenai Outpatient Imaging radiologists are board-certified by the American Board of Radiology and have additional sub-specialized training and interests. The Post Falls facility has already begun the several months-long process to qualify for voluntary American College of Radiology certification, Neely said.