Portable, Hand-Held CT Scanner

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I heard recently about the new hand-held, portable CT scanner. What a miracle! Anyone seen or used this yet?

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Can you quote your source? I am aware of an infrared scanner that can detect subdural and epidural hematomas. In addition, ultrasound technology is becoming smaller and some services may be doing field FAST type exams with this technology. However, a CT scanner uses X-Ray technology to produce an image. I am unaware of the existence of a hand held CT scanner.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Thinking about the basics of the physics involved it seems very hard to imagine that a CT scanner could ever be a handheld device for a whole host of reasons not the least of which is that it needs to have a set of stable reference datums in order for the computer to amalgamate all of the discrete images into the computed tomogram.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

Portable yes (video reminds me of them doing a stat portable chest on the floor)

http://www.neurologica.com/

Handheld? I don't see how it would work. But, then again, the first computers took up a whole room and you stepped inside them, and they had less "umph" than I've got in my PDA. My laptop weighs 5 pounds, plays movies, and can do almost anything but cook. So, give it time...

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I've seen a portable thing to check for dobhoff tube placements! Those are cool!

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Specializes in Med/surg. ED. Palliative. Geront.

...found this on google...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0805-digitial_dentist.htm

...is this the kind of thing you mean...?

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
...found this on google...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0805-digitial_dentist.htm

...is this the kind of thing you mean...?

That's not a CT scanner, though. That device takes digital pictures and then processes them into a 3D surface model of the exterior of the tooth. That's very different than a CT scanner which creates 3D images of internal structures.

Photographs use visible light; CT scanners use x-rays... very different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Other than utilizing a computer to generate a composite 3D model/image from 2D images they really have nothing in common.

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I'm sorry I don't have a reference. It was something I heard on TV but don't remember specifics - date, channel, name of the item, but it sounded wonderful and was touted as being able to eventually eliminate CT's - I thought. Probably not, though, as no one else seems to have heard of this.

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Do you mean this device?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6541279.stm

It isn't exactly a CT scanner but it does a similar job for a specific task.

Don't worry, we're not too far off from Dr. McCoy's medical kit!

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Beam me up Scottie, I always wanted to work aboard the Starship Enterprise...

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hello all!

while listening to the television surfing the web, out of the corner of my ear, i hear about this new technology; hand held ct scanners new tech advertised on tv.

i though wow! star trek is finally here! then of course i wanted to see one of them for myself and so here we are; i search and came up with all this information plus (your web site was among the search results) i saw that many of you had heard about it and wanted to find more information.

so here is what i found and i am sure after a little more research i'll be able to actually find a picture of one (not hat i'll be back -iam not a medical person although my lady is a nurse and she's excited about the find.

so enjoy everyone. we have arrived in the 22nd century, and spock was right; "live long and prosper!"

new science tech: hand held ct scanners

http://news.softpedia.com/news/infrascanner-hand-held-brain-scanner-52224.shtml

equine-specialist ct scanner created 3-d images

http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2009/02/equine-specialist-handheld-ct-scanner.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2982442.stm

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handheld scanner 'detects cancer'

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most cancer scanners are bulky and expensive

simply passing a handheld device over the body of a suspected cancer patient could reveal a tumour, inventors have claimed.

although the hand held device, which looks a little like the metal detectors used in airports, works because different types of body tissue resonated in different ways when exposed to a fluctuating frequency of microwaves given off by the device.

this resonance can be detected because it interferes with the signal.

tumour tissue resonates at different frequencies to healthy tissue - so the presence of a cancer can be identified quickly.

normally, a patient would have to undergo a ct or mri scan to allow doctors to spot cancer growing inside them.

obviously, the device, developed at the university of bologna in italy, cannot give doctors the precise location and size of tumours - an important factor in determining treatment.

in clinical trials at a hospital in milan, the scanner was able to correctly identify 93% of prostate cancer patients whose condition was later confirmed by a biopsy operation.

screening tool

dr carlo bellorofonte, who led the study, told new scientist magazine: "the results are amazing.

"the scanner seems ideal for mass-screening of cancer because it is rapid, non-invasive and highly sensitive."

a separate study of breast cancer patients showed a lower success rate - 66% of cases were detected by the device.

the results have yet to be accepted for publication in a major medical journal - and the device will not find favour in hospitals elsewhere until they are.

the detector was originally developed as a potential way to detect landmines.

the company behind it hopes to market the device, perhaps for £20,000 a time, later this year.

hand held ultrasound: http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/health/story.html?id=28bee2f9-b323-4752-817c-04341e8f8aa3

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/1ceaa7d7-3889-4f4c-9003-991895e62419/sun0809nultra1.jpg?size=l

hand held mris

http://www.xent.com/pipermail/fork/2002-october/014994.html

hand held devices show promise

http://www.medicexchange.com/radiology/emergency-radiology-handheld-devices-show-promise.html

handheld scanner detects cancer

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/3771.php

star trek technology is here now!

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/science-fiction-news.asp?newsnum=1904

hope this answered some of the same questions i had, and i am sure since this is new, we will be hearing even more because this is a major technoligical breakthough!

sincerely,

bobby fleeks - "the music doctor"

springfield city beat 1080 internet radio

www.blogtalkradio.com/city-beat-city-talk

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Portable yes (video reminds me of them doing a stat portable chest on the floor)

http://www.neurologica.com/

Handheld? I don't see how it would work. But, then again, the first computers took up a whole room and you stepped inside them, and they had less "umph" than I've got in my PDA. My laptop weighs 5 pounds, plays movies, and can do almost anything but cook. So, give it time...

This scanner is the only Portable TRUE CT Scanner I've heard and seen........primarily used for head and neck, it is amazing seeing this in action in the ICU. The scanner comes right to the patients bedside and image quality is great. Critically ill patients no longer need transport to radiology.

I haven't heard of any other type of TRUE CT out there that is fully portable.....thoughts?

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