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With about 25 patients a day going through Mercy Medical Center's CT, or computerized topography, scanners, the hospital said it puts safety above all else. Bakersfield Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield was the latest hospital to admit that it had exposed 16 potential stroke patients to higher-than-recommended levels of radiation, despite following guidelines provided by the manufacturer of its CT scanner. At least two other hospitals in California have also found their patients have been exposed to too high a dose of radiation.

The CT scanners that exposed patients to too much radiation were doing brain perfusion studies, which isn't done at Mercy, according to Paul Yoshida, director of imaging at the hospital.

Despite that, the hospital said it's careful with its two new scanners.

A CT scanner uses a computer and a rotating x-ray machine to create detailed, cross-sectional images -- or slices -- of organs and body parts.

The new scanners at Mercy are a 64-slice device in the hospital and a 40-slice in the imaging center. That's located in the medical office building next to the new hospital.

"The most common uses for a CT scanner are to look at a patient's chest, abdomen or pelvis," Yoshida said. He added that most of the time the scanners are used on cancer patients and for brain studies.

"We use it tell if a person is bleeding in the brain or having a stroke," Yoshida said. He added that the brain perfusion studies done in other hospitals are often done several times, which exposes patients to more radiation.

To make sure the machines are working correctly, an independent company checks them and reports the information to the state.

Employees are also trained extensively on the machines, according to Kathy Monson, clinical manager for imaging at Mercy.

"We sent people to North Carolina to learn how to use them," she said.

Yoshida said the machines contain dose radiation software which automatically adjusts the amount of radiation needed.

"We have the ability to look at how much radiation is used per patient," Yoshida said.

Anthony Cordeiro, another clinical manager for imaging, said CT scans can help save lives.

"What the machines are looking for is probably far more dangerous to the patient than what the machine is doing," Cordeiro said.

Yoshida said the hospital and imaging center put safety No. 1.

"We reduce the amount of radiation whenever we can," Yoshida said. "We want to use as low a dose as is reasonably achievable."

Source: Mercy Medical Center