HARTFORD, Conn. -- Doctors at Connecticut Children's Medical Center reconstructed a deformity on a 6-month-old's skull on Thursday that would have affected her vision and brain development, hospital officials said.

But the procedure was made unique, officials said, because it ended with help from the Ceretom portable CT scanner.

Once doctors finished the repairs, the Ceretom scanner came right to the patient.

"For the regular scans, we slide the patient through the gantry," Dr. Paul Kanev said. "Here, we slide the scanner over the head. We can move the scanner rather than move the patient."

Doctors said the machine is important because of the time that it saves. The crew that operated on the 6-month-old was in the operating room for five hours. They said that without the machine, if something had been wrong in the CT scan, they would have had to bring the baby back into the operating room.

"This way, if we identify a complication, it takes moments to reopen the scalp incision because the instruments are all right there," Kanev said.

Before this technology became available, the infant patient had to go to a fixed CT scanner sometime after her surgeries. Now, doctors said, when they update the nervous parents, they can tell them conclusively that their daughter is fine.

"It gives them a huge boost of confidence that the worst fears they had did not take place," Kanev said.

The same machine can be used for all sorts of scans in kids or adults, doctors said. They said that basically anything that fits inside is fair game.

The machine was purchased with help from donors. Only a couple dozen hospitals in the country have one, doctors said.

"This is breakaway technology for the children's hospital," Kanev said. "We're the only institution in the state."