Advanced CT scanner saves lives in Iraq

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Travis Edwards
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq --  In addition to having a standard X-ray machine, the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group Radiology Flight  has one of the most advanced CT scanners in Iraq, saving seconds that contribute to saving lives.

Diagnosis is critical at the Air Force Theater Hospital here. For trauma victims the initial medical response time spent in the surgery room is also critical. Seconds can determine whether a patient lives or dies.

The state-of-the-art 16-slice scanner gives doctors and radiologists the ability to view bones, organs, blood vessels and the heart in a fine, three-dimensional image to more accurately show the trauma's extent.

"The equipment used is very advanced compared to what X-rays used to be," said Senior Airman Steven Williams, a 332nd EMDG radiology technician, deployed from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

It allows Airmen to cut three to four minutes of pain and anguish inside a CT scanner to only 30 seconds. This ability, contributes to the 98 percent survivability rate for servicemembers who make it in to the hospital alive.

The machines shoots thousands of electro-magnetic waves that penetrate the skin to either expose film behind a patient or transfer a data image onto a computer. 

The radiology flight  uses the X-rays and scans to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of trauma and emergency room patients, letting surgeons know the exact area and extent of the trauma.

"We are here to support the main mission, keeping Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines alive," said Tech. Sgt. D. Scott Sago, a 332nd EMDG radiology technician deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan. 

This also includes saving the lives of local Iraqis caught in the violence. 

Airman Williams tells the story of one female Iraqi patient who came in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.  After an initial scan, radiologists found she was pregnant; now they had two lives to save, he said. 

In order to save the child and mother, the baby had to be delivered.

"They ultimately delivered the baby in the hospital and both the patient and baby survived," he said.

Without the state-of-the-art equipment and the flight's hard work, both lives may have been lost, said Airman Williams.

Currently, Iraqi civilians make up about 80 percent of trauma patients in the hospital.

"The care the Iraqis get here is far better than what they can get anywhere else. With our CT scanner, we help what could have been a life-ending injury into another life saved, which could turn a once negative opinion of us into a positive," said Sergeant Sago, a native of St. Louis.

The workload is constant and fast paced.

"You have to stay calm; it's easy to get overwhelmed with everything happening. The key is to be confident in yourself and remember why you are here -- to save lives," Airman Williams said.

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