New KRMC machine limits X-ray 'splash'

Kalispell Regional Medical Center is now home to cutting-edge radiology technology meant to reduce radiation exposure for patients and doctors.

The Trinias Angiography System, a room-sized machine costing upwards of $850,000, is designed to focus its radiation on the part of the body being X-rayed.

Interventional Radiologist Dr. Benjamin Pomerantz said the machine has not only made his job easier but also is less detrimental to his and his patients’ health.

“It helps take away the soft X-ray,” he said. “That’s the scatter from the beam. It’s like when you throw a water balloon and the water splashes all over. We want only the part the balloon hits. This machine reduces the dose to the patient and the dose to us.”

The large arm of the angiography system, produced by the Shimadzu Corporation, can slide all cardinal directions as well as rotate and tilt. This can allow the machine to take an image of a patient’s arm, for example, without “splashing” much radiation onto the torso or anywhere else that doesn’t need an image taken.

Kalispell Regional Medical Center is the first hospital in the West to get the machine and one of just a handful in the nation.

Another benefit, Pomerantz said, is the machine’s patience with fidgety patients.

“It’s very motion-tolerant,” he said. “Motion is the enemy when it comes to X-rays and imaging, but this can decrease the number of times we need to do the picture.”

It accomplishes this by taking an X-ray video of sorts, so breathing and small movements won’t totally obscure the image.

The machine is so new that a resident engineer is staying in Kalispell to make sure it runs properly and tackle any technical glitches it might experience.

It has been installed in the radiology department since April. Pomerantz and another interventional radiologist have made good use of the machine. A slightly older, large X-ray machine is in an adjacent room.

“It’s definitely reduced repeat exposures,” Pomerantz said of the Trinias system. “I’m liking the pictures I get from it. For certain applications it is the best option.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.