Mills Memorial Hospital has a new, state-of-the-art high-definition endoscopy suite to assist surgeons when taking a look inside a person for diagnosis, treatment or therapeutic reasons.
The $300,000 price tag took a little more than a year to raise by the Dr. REM Lee Hospital Foundation and its many individual and business supporters.
The new machine has better high definition (HD) than the older one and allows the medical team to see on a screen where the scope is going inside the patient; before they had to feel around on the patient to determine where it was going, said Holly Pritchett, registered nurse operating room/endoscopy.
It also comes with a pediatric scope that is smaller and used on young people, to get in to look at areas that are narrowing or to see areas after radiation or chemotherapy to determine if that treatment is having an effect, she said.
The smaller scope could also be used in areas that are bleeding for treatment.
The endoscopy room will soon be renovated too so it will be more efficient, added Pritchett.