Pamela L. Moore, PhD

 isn’t new, but Philips has expanded its flexibility in new products launched at RSNA 2011.

WPD sharing “is key” to the company’s diagnostic x-ray portfolio, said Christian Neumann, director of strategic marketing and services, Diagnostic X-ray, Philips Healthcare.

Users can share one WPD between different modalities, including the newly redesigned Digital Diagnost 3.0, with a new tray made for the WPD, ceiling suspension, and ambient lighting.
The WPD also slides into the 

 positioned as an entry-point product especially useful in special-needs setting such as bariatics or pediatrics.

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Philips emphasizes newly flexible, wireless detector at RSNA 2011

X-Ray Wireless Detector Now Even More Portable

 drew crowds at RSNA 2011 with OrderRight, its decision support tool. The OrderRight “widget” integrates into EHRs, guides ordering physicians through a series of questions about their patient, and suggests the correct test, based on criteria from the American College of Radiology (ACR). No more trying to keep the latest suggestions straight in your head; patient-specific protocols appear on screen.


Such decision support reduces volume for radiologists, MedCurrent’s Beth Frost-Johnson baldly stated. In fact, a study in the 

Journal of the American College of Radiology

, showed that decision support was associated with a 23 percent to 27 percent drop in utilization of sinus CT and MRIs of the head and lumbar spine. But the cut in volume results from good decisions based on clinical evidence, decisions most physicians can live with.


“This is not an electronic RBM [radiology benefit management] tool,” Frost-Johnson stressed. “We don’t tell physicians what to do; we offer recommendations. … And we also tell them why, and that’s something the RBMs don’t do. … You cut the right fat.”


New reimbursement models focus on cutting costs without hurting quality, she adds. If radiologists are getting paid for better care or sharing in cost cuts, this is the sort of system they’ll need. The activity at the MedCurrent booth suggests a heightened attention to the newer models.

Crowds check out decision support tool at RSNA 2011

Besides, few referring physician want to struggle through a painful RBM pre-authorization or denial; if they know they are following guidelines, they feel more comfortable they are not only doing the right thing, but will eventually get paid. Because the product integrates with EHRs, even extracting basic patient data from referring physicians’ records, it doesn’t require them to interrupt their workflow, improving adoption. Decision support isn’t a new idea, but it previously required physicians to launch an entirely new system, interrupting their work.
 

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CHICAGO-System helps physicians follow evidence.

Imaging Decision Support System Reduces Utilization, But Draws Crowds

CHICAGO - - When Carestream designers set out to make a new portable, digital x-ray unit, they watched videotapes of radiographers moving other mobile carts. Staff craned to see around tall x-ray columns and avoid patients in hallways. They rooted through bags jury-rigged to cart sides to find gloves and other supplies, and narrowly avoided IV lines trying to turn the systems crowded ICUs.


“We tried to answer the problems of portable x-ray – and there are many,” smiled Helen Titus, worldwide marketing manager, capture products, for Carestream, as she watched a radiologist swirl her new product on the exhibit floor at RSNA 2011. “We wanted to make everyone’s lives easier.”

CareStream DRX-Revolution Mobile X-Ray System

 – which is awaiting FDA clearance, with worldwide availability expected in mid-2012 --has a compact design. The top column collapses almost entirely. Two, independent wheel drives systems make it possible to turn the device in a full circle using one hand and while standing in place, Titus said. There are built-in holders for gloves and sani-wipes. And the system’s software uses a grid platform to exactly align the x-ray tube. Users see a video-game-like image that indicates exactly when the tube is properly positioned to reduce scatter.
The DRX-Revolution uses Carestream’s DRX-1 detector, which can be moved to any room-based or mobile imaging system.
 

“It has brought excitement back into x-ray,” said Titus.

CHICAGO-Carestream features newly mobile system at RSNA 2011

New Design for Portable, Digital X-Ray

GE Healthcare today officially introduced Q.Suite, tools designed to improve PET for oncology treatment assessment by creating more consistent readings.


Thanks to its ability to indicate metabolic change, PET can reveal whether a given oncology treatment is working or not, even before a physical change in tumor size can show up in CT or MR images, according to Vivek Bhatt, general manager for PET at GE Healthcare.

But Standardized Uptake Value (SUV) readings have to be consistent for physicians to rely on data showing a change from the baseline. Variation control is needed.


Q.Suite offers stability through:
• Q.Freeze - Designed to be combine the quantitative benefits of 4D phase-matched PET/CT imaging into a single static image, eliminating motion, Q.Freeze is 510(k) pending at the FDA and is not available for sale in the United States. 
• Q.Static - Adds basic motion correction techniques, reducing organ motion effects. The tool is meant to automatically isolate data when organs are in a low-motion state. The result is a single image series with reduced blurring from organ motion. 
• Q.AC - An algorithm is designed to reduce potential variance in attenuation correction measurements, helping ensure that the attenuation coefficients used in image reconstruction are accurate. 
• Q.Check - Establishes a link between the console and workstation to ensure that patient and exam data required for quantitative imaging is saved in the patient file before the exam is finished. 
• Q.Core - Manages both PET acquisition and reconstruction processing at faster speeds.
• PET VCAR - Provides access to quantitative information, managing multiple lesions and multiple patient exams over time. PET VCAR now supports PERCIST.

GE also announced its new Discover PET/CT 710, capable of 128-slice imaging, and stressed its research on developing a fully integrated PET/MR.
 

Q.Suite positioned as improvement in cancer treatment assessment.

Author | Pamela L. Moore, PhD

Articles

X-Ray Wireless Detector Now Even More Portable

Imaging Decision Support System Reduces Utilization, But Draws Crowds

New Design for Portable, Digital X-Ray

GE Introduces Tools to Improve Quantitative PET SUV Readings