DpiX builds digital-detector line with release of FlashScan 30 sensor

Company also expands relationship with Varian

DpiX expanded the breadth of its digital-detector offerings with the release of FlashScan 30, a 12 x 16-inch amorphous silicon-based detector. The new FlashScan offering has a large enough surface area to cover all general radiographic applications with the possible exception of chest imaging, according to the Palo Alto, CA-based firm.

The company has no plans to market to end users, preferring instead to stick with its OEM distribution strategy, said Jean-Pierre Georges, vice president of sales and marketing for dpiX. The subsystem could be installed as a retrofit to replace conventional x-ray film cassettes in existing medical equipment, or as part of new systems, according to the company.

"It's applicable as a retrofit, but it's up to the OEM how they want to market the device," Georges said.

In contrast to several other digital radiography manufacturers that use two or four pieces of glass tiled together to create large active imaging areas, dpiX elected to use one piece of glass to keep the cost of the system down, Georges said. FlashScan 30 will be priced in the low $60,000 range, while the company's other offering, FlashScan 20, runs about $37,000. FlashScan 20 features an 8 x 10-inch array, which is appropriate for small-format applications. The company is planning to develop a 14 x 17-inch detector, although it would not discuss a timetable for its release.

In other dpiX news, the company has also grown its relationship with fellow digital-detector developer Varian Imaging Products, which will now offer FlashScan imagers to its customers. In the past, dpiX has contributed an amorphous silicon array to Varian for use in that firm's Large-Area Sensing Technology (LAST) imager (SCAN 8/20/97). The general radiography FlashScan sensors will complement Palo Alto, CA-based Varian's LAST offerings, which are designed for fluoroscopy applications. Both the FlashScan and LAST detectors were partially funded by a joint research grant from the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The OEM agreement with Varian is a nonexclusive one, however. DpiX will also maintain its own OEM distribution channels, Georges said.