WATERLOO -- Denean Bauer's had her share of radiation treatments.

In her third battle with cancer, she hasn't had a choice.

But new diagnostic CT technology at Covenant Medical Center aims to help limit her exposure as she fights her relapse.

Doctors are calling the GE LightSpeed VCT XT scanner the most powerful in the Cedar Valley.

The state-of-the-art system, which detects medical problems suspected after physical exams, has an automatic exposure control function that adjusts the dose of radiation to the size and shape of individuals.

"For example, your chest might be wider than your feet, and the radiation dose will be adjusted so that the X-Ray dose isn't constant the whole time," said Tim Carmody, medical director for the department of radiology at Covenant.

Compared with using a fixed exposure control system, the scanner reduces a patient's radiation dose by as much as 32.5 percent. Many cardiac studies cut exposure in half. And decreased radiation is especially beneficial in scanning children.

"You want to keep your doses low in younger people," Carmody said.

That's music to Bauer's ears. Ten years ago, Bauer, 27, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Five years later, she battled breast cancer.

"Because of all the heavy doses of radiation that I had (to treat Hodgkin's), that's what caused the breast cancer," said Bauer of Reinbeck, who teaches special education at Gladbrook Elementary. "I had eight weeks daily, five days a week, to my chest."

She discovered a third bout with breast cancer three years ago. In June a CT scan showed the disease had spread to her bones and liver.

Now CT scans monitor the efficiency of her cancer treatments.

"When I just had my last (scan a few weeks ago), they saw new spots on the liver, so then they were able to realize that the chemo that we were on wasn't working, and then now they've switched me to a new chemo," Bauer said.

The new machine produces crisper, higher-resolution images, like advancing from a regular television screen to a high-definition picture, Carmody said.

"You take thinner cuts and you have more powerful software and digital data that you can sort of manipulate," he said. "Imaging quality has come a long way even in the last two years."

"Compared to our old scanner, they're 100 percent better," noted Corina Schilling, a CT technologist at Covenant.

The new scanner captures images of an organ in a second, and can perform whole body trauma scans in 10 seconds, more than twice as fast as conventional multislice CT scanners. With antsy kids, the faster the scan, less motion appears on the image.

"Our returning patients have noticed, "Oh, I'm done already?" Schilling said.

Bauer, who has a "whole shelf of CT pictures," also noted a more comfortable, curved bed, and a digital timer counts down when patients are required to hold their breath. That could further reduce patients' stress and anxiety, she said.

Technologists will be fully trained on new equipment, which cost an estimated $1.5 to $2 million with software and installation, Carmody said.

"We're probably going to reach maximum potential here in the next month or two where we can start offering the full spectrum of everything we want to offer," Carmody said.

Contact Tina Hinz at (319) 291-1484 or tina.hinz@wcfcourier.com.