From the September 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Utilizing advanced technologies to improve efficiency
Our department opted to integrate a compact self-shielded mobile CT scan to our brachytherapy suite in an attempt to increase efficiency as well as patient comfort and safety. We placed a BodyTom Elite CT scanner at the head of our operating table within the brachytherapy suite. This process allows the position of an afterloading device to be verified all in one room while the patient remains either in the treatment position or on the operating table, which is also mobile. By removing the need to transfer the patient to another diagnostic CT scan suite, we have diminished the possibility of afterloader malposition and patient motion, all while improving comfort. After the BodyTom Elite CT images are obtained and the position of the devices approved, the images are transferred directly into our treatment planning software where our dosimetrists and physicists complete the planning process.


By integrating this new technology into our brachytherapy unit, we have seen both tangible and intangible benefits. Patients spend less time on stretchers waiting for a CT suite and experience less discomfort because they’re not being transferred from stretcher to stretcher. An added benefit is that our diagnostic CT scan may now be utilized exclusively for its more traditional external beam radiotherapy CT simulation needs.

By combining advanced technology such as the BodyTom with a carefully mapped treatment process, our brachytherapy program has become much more efficient, improving the overall patient satisfaction experience at Willis-Knighton.


About the author: Lane R. Rosen, M.D., is the FACRO director, radiation oncology department, at the Willis-Knighton Cancer Center in Shreveport, La.

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