MEDICAL NEWS
Mobile Imaging Aids Rural Residents If you live in rural southwest Virginia, you can still have access to advanced imaging services.
Carilion Clinic’s mobile imaging trucks serve patients at smaller rural hospitals in Rocky Mount and Bath, Bedford, Buchanan, Giles, Montgomery, Rockbridge, and Tazewell counties. By conservative estimates, the units have traveled over 3 million miles in the past 33 years, says James Crowley, Carilion’s mobile imaging manager. “Many hospitals in smaller communities don’t have access to MRI,” says Kelley Whitmer, M.D., medical director of imaging at the 37-bed Carilion Franklin Memorial Hospital in Rocky Mount. “Carilion’s mobile imaging allows patients at the periphery of our coverage area to travel less but still receive the highest level of diagnostics,” he says. Carilion operates four mobile imaging units—three MRI units and one PET/CT unit—to serve outlying hospitals on a regular schedule. MRIs are suited for examining soft tissue in ligament and tendon injuries, spinal cord damage, brain tumors, internal injuries, and most cancers. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans use radioactive tracer drugs to reveal how tissues and organs are functioning. PET scans are useful in evaluating some cancers, heart disease, and brain disorders such as cancer or dementia. Both 22 FALL 2015 | CarilionClinic.org
scans can help determine if a treatment or surgery is necessary. “In addition to scheduled patients, our units help out with inpatients and in the ERs,” Crowley says. A new MRI unit is also state-of-the-art. “Carilion Clinic has once again demonstrated its commitment to the patients and communities we serve by installing the Avanto MRI, the most advanced mobile MR system offered by Siemens,” says Daniel Karolyi, M.D., Carilion’s vice chair of imaging. “In addition to providing faster imaging and higher spatial/contrast resolution, the Avanto will allow us to expand the types of studies we can offer on the mobile platform to include more advanced brain, spine, joint, vascular, and abdomen/pelvis imaging.” Says Dr. Whitmer: “The Avanto allows us to perform scans for many additional health problems, allowing our patients to stay closer to home while confident their health is being evaluated with state-of-the-art equipment. Mobile imaging is a big part of our mission.”