NEW SUPER SCANNER HELPS SOLDIERS IN IRAQ
 Soldiers with serious injuries in Iraq are getting faster and more efficient treatment thanks to one of the most modern pieces of medical equipment available.
The British Military Hospital at Shaibah is now using a £1 million Computer Assisted Tomography (CAT) scanner, which, according to staff, has improved the diagnosing and treatment of emergency trauma by leaps and bounds over the last three months.
The scanner takes spiral pictures of the body which are dissected into slices and a computer then reconstructs a three-dimensional picture. Those images can be sent to the Royal Hospital at Haslar where clinicians and consultant surgeons look at the pictures, make an assessment and a report can be sent back within the hour.
We want to provide a level of care that is equivalent, if not better, than the National Health Service, said Lt Col Richard Cantelo, the consultant anaesthetist and clinical director of the hospital. The main advantage is that if we have a patient we think needs a scan we can do it on site rather than sending them to Kuwait or the American hospital in Baghdad. To transfer any patient when they are critically ill is hazardous, but to do it in an operational environment is worse.
Lt Col Cantelo said that the machine had already proved its worth. One million pounds may seem a lot, he explained, But with the time saved, less discomfort for the patient, decreased clinical risk, less fuel for travel and taking into account the operational risks to patients and staff if you had to move them, it is a small price to pay."
The machine is not used for routine scanning work, but for head, neck, chest, abdominal and orthopaedic injuries often caused by road traffic accidents.
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