NEWS

Life-saving CT Scanner Technology

Last summer, Lee Emmons took a hard fall down the stairs in his home. His wife, Marilyn, heard him fall, and found him lying at the base of the stairs, momentarily knocked out.

When he woke up, she quickly helped him to the sofa where he said he hurt his shoulder. Although he was in some pain, he didn't feel a visit to the hospital was necessary.

Two months later, Marilyn received a phone call from Lee's co-workers. Lee wasn't acting quite 'normal' at work, and they asked her to pick him up.

When she arrived, Lee wasn't understanding speech and his motor skills were suddenly very limited, he was also having trouble walking.

Concerned, Marilyn immediately drove him to the emergency department at Strathroy Middlesex General Hospital. The attending physician, Dr. Wolder, saw him right away. After examining him, he immediately ordered the Diagnostic Imaging Department to run a CT scan of Lee's head.

By 4pm that same day, it was clear what was causing Lee's deteriorating condition. The CT scan showed a large mass pressing against his brain. Lee was experiencing bleeding in his head.

By this time, his condition was worsening. He was increasingly confused and could not remember what year it was.

He was immediately transferred to the trauma unit in London for surgery where his CT scan images were waiting for him (sent digitally from SMGH). By 10pm that night, Lee was awake in recovery.

5 months later Lee has now recovered and is ready to go back to work. With the bleeding stopped, and the pain gone, his memory has returned. The cause of the bleeding has been attributed to the fall he took down the stairs in the summer.

The CT scanner at the Middlesex Hospital Alliance was installed in May 2007. Lee is one of over 3000 people who have needed a scan. In Lee's case, the scanner quickly offered the diagnosis he needed, just in time.

"We are thankful for the new CT scanner. We're just not going to think about what could have happened if he had to wait and go somewhere else," says Marilyn.