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MOTHER FRANCES HOSPITAL-TYLER NOW USING PORTABLE CT SCANNER

Hospital Now Able to Scan on Demand in ER, OR, Neuro ICU and ICU

TYLER, TX – Mother Frances Hospital has installed a portable 8 slice head and neck computed tomography (CT) scanner, for use in the Emergency Care Center, Surgery Center, Neuro ICU and ICU and other areas of the Hospital. The device allows for quicker and easier access to patients who present with stroke symptoms or brain injuries, or who could acquire additional medical problems from being transported to a stationary CT.

This also allows for immediate head CT Scans in the Neuro ICU without transport of critically ill complex patients and the most rapid responses to changes in neurological status.

The CereTom® is a portable 8-slice CT scanner that acquires 1.25MM slices per rotation. It is compact, wireless and can be used while the patient is still in their bed - allowing the physician to monitor cerebral blood flow without disturbing the patient. During transportation patients are extremely vulnerable. The portable CT scanner eliminates this disruption by having the scanner brought bedside to the patient.

"The portable CT scanner has removed the most vulnerable moments in the care of critical neurosurgical patients; the transfer from ICU to the radiology CT suite. Our patient care is now cutting edge and will allow us to avoid serious, even fatal complications thanks to the portable CT scanner." Sabatino Bianco, MD, Trinity Mother Frances Neuroscience Institute Director and Chief of Trinity Mother Frances Neurosurgery Department.

"Acquiring this portable scanner will allow us to have rapid access to CT scans for patients who present at the Emergency Care Center with stroke symptoms - we will now be able to scan them in the ER without having to transport them to the larger CT scanner, elsewhere in the hospital," said Earnest Stroupe, MD, medical director, Mother Frances Hospital Emergency Care Center. "This allows for quicker diagnosis and is an innovative tool in managing treatment decisions."

"It will also allow us to better care for our patients in the ICU's," added Rhonda Clausen, Vice President Neurosciences, Trinity Mother Frances Health System. "It allows us to provide a CT scan to patients in the ICU's without having to transport them off the unit. This allows us to maintain full staff on these units at all times, and allows the patient to remain in their bed and allows the most rapid diagnosis of any change in neurological condition. Since time is brain, so time saved is often brain saved."

"NeuroLogica is holding true to our mission of bringing better medical care to those who need it, and by continually delivering innovation to the medical community," says Eric M. Bailey, CEO and Co-founder of NeuroLogica Corporation, manufacturer of the CereTom. "We are excited that the CereTom is available at Mother Frances Hospital. Neurologists and radiologists around the world have clearly recognized the flexibility and mobility of the CereTom in providing a quick and accurate scan to critical patients."

Trinity Mother Frances Health System includes Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler, Mother Frances Hospital-Jacksonville and Trinity Clinic, the area's preferred medical specialty group serving east and northeast Texas, including over 200 physicians and clinicians and 35 medical specialties.

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