Aunt Minnie Europe is featuring an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the Olympic polyclinic. The 5,000-square-meter four-story building, constructed specifically for the Olympics, houses, amongst other things, a radiological department that could just as well be one you would find in a small hospital. The polyclinic is outfitted with GE imaging equipment consisting of two MRI’s: a Discovery MR750w wide-bore 3-tesla system, and an Optima MR450w wide-bore 1.5-tesla unit. There’s also a Discovery 750HD CT scanner, a Discovery XR656 wireless digital X-ray system and Venue 40 and Logiq E9 ultrasound systems.
Up until August 6, a grand total of 1,135 examinations were performed, of which 564 were MRI, 259 were X-ray, 254 were ultrasound, and 58 were CT, with up to 52 MRI’s being performed on a single day. The medical staff are all volunteers, including 26 radiologists and 34 radiographers. GE has a permanent presence with eight engineers and application specialists to make sure things keep running without interruption.
After the conclusion of the 2012 Paralympics in September, the polyclinic building will be converted into a primary care clinic for the apartments in the Olympic Village. For the complete story, including some more statistics on the injuries typically encountered in Olympic athletes, head over to Aunt Minnie, linked below.
Aunt Minnie Europe: MRI accounts for half of exams so far in Olympic polyclinic…