X-Ray

It is the end of an era for Fujifilm. For decades the Japanese firm has touted computed radiography as the way to transition from film to digital radiography.

Fujifilm invented computed radiography. The Japanese company introduced CR to the U.S. nearly 30 years ago.

Agfa Healthcare extended its computed radiography portfolio with the global launch at RSNA 2009 of a compact, high-volume reader. Agfa also raised expectations among customers in the market for digital radiography systems with the unveiling of two works-in-progress built around flat-panel detectors.

Interest in computed and digital radiography was booming among vendors at RSNA 2009, as traditional providers of turnkey systems and components showed portfolios designed to appeal to cost-conscious buyers.

The artifacts observed in images derived from computed radiography come from a range of sources and user errors. A radiography team from Manipal, India, presented a digital exhibit at the RSNA meeting to illustrate sources of such artifacts and user solutions to overcome them.

A maneuverable digital radiography system has been selected over a computed radiography system by the emergency room at a U.K. facility. Steven McDonald, director of radiology in the emergency room at Royal Liverpool Hospital gave the rationale and implications for this decision in a poster presentation at RSNA 2009.

Most of the general x-ray equipment currently being used in European hospitals is digital, according to a survey by InMedica, the medical branch of market research firm IMS Research.

The 10,000th Kodak Point-of-Care computed radiography system has shipped.

A portable digital x-ray system from Fujifilm Medical Systems USA made a cameo appearance Oct. 6 in an episode of the CBS series NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service).

A next generation computed radiography (CR) system and two digital radiography (DR) systems will debut in the Agfa Healthcare booth during RSNA 2009.

Queensland Health provides public health servicesacross a highly decentralized population base in thestate of Queensland.

X-ray, the past and current workhorse in radiology,still garners the majority of all imagingstudies.

Breaking with its past dependence on phosphor-based computed radiography plates, Fujifilm featured a flat-panel digital radiography system at the RSNA 2008 meeting.

Digital radiography specialist IMIX Americas introduced at RSNA 2008 two DR systems and software for processing radiographs. Designed for smaller facilities, the compact SomaRad DR system can be installed in rooms with ceilings only eight feet high. The ChiroRad DR system is tailored to fit chiropractic offices. IMIX workstation software, with an enhanced user interface, allows the seamless integration of digital and computed radiography components and improves workflow.

If digital radiography beckons but funds are a problem, Viztek may have the answer. The company introduced at RSNA 2008 a turnkey CR/PACS. Its new Opal-MD combines enterprise-level Opal-RAD PACS with Kodak’s Point-of-Care CR. The value-priced package is designed specifically for private practice physicians, yet it will deliver a range of advanced features. These include digital image viewing in multiple exam rooms, image autorouting, CD burning, and film printing.

Since full-field mammographystarted going digital eight yearsago, systems based on flat-panelarrays have dominated. But computedradiography has begun seeping intothat market and, if the FDA allowsCR companies to apply for streamlined510(k) approval of mammographyupgrades, the trickle of CR productscould turn into a flood.

A 75-year-old man was referred for presurgical MDCT evaluation of a known abdominal aortic aneurysm that had been detected on screening abdominal ultrasound. A contrast enhanced CTA scan of the abdomen was performed.

Buyers pull in their horns, and future portends mix of DR, computed radiography, and traditional film

Most U.S. healthcare facilities have digital imaging technology in the form of either CR or DR. The decision is not when to go digital, but which technology is the most appropriate for each location.

Managing CR and DR implementations is a carefully orchestrated effort at Roper St. Francis Healthcare in Charleston, SC. Our healthcare system includes two hospitals in Charleston (Bon Secours St. Francis and Roper Hospital) that represent almost 600 beds, a day hospital, a hospital soon to begin construction in Mt. Pleasant, and eight outpatient facilities with imaging services in the midcoastal area of the state.

Philips Medical Systems plans to be on the U.S. market with a computed radiography system for mammography in the second half of 2008 and with a flat panel mammography system in the first half of 2009. When approved by the FDA, they will be available as part of a digital platform that can support CR and DR, the first such hybrid ever.

Two new computed radiography systems and a digital radiography unit debut this week at the Caresteam Health booth at the RSNA meeting. The CRs, dubbed the Classic and Elite, are accompanied by IT products already introduced:

Demand for digital x-ray is soaring, about 10 years later than most industry insiders predicted. Better late than never, for sure, but the reasons behind the rise of this class of products are as much economic as technological. Volume sales are bringing down the price of digital x-ray systems, just as the adoption of PACS is making digital radiography more a need than a want. Vendors are responding with more powerful equipment bearing attractive prices.

When PACS were first introduced, the vendor supplied the whole system, from the back-end servers to the front-end diagnostic workstations. Over time, the buyers of these systems realized that none of these PACS vendors actually manufactured the computers and monitors; they just resold them, often at huge markups.

One of the world's major suppliers of flat-panel x-ray detectors will boost its manufacturing capacity 40% this year. By the end of the decade, Trixell-the French joint venture among Siemens, Philips, and Thales-expects to double its current capacity.