This report originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of DOTmed Business News

It may have taken longer than some other imaging modalities-such as CT and MRI, but the digital revolution that has swept through those sectors seems to finally have infiltrated the C-arm branch. According to C-arm manufacturers, refurbishers and industry experts, the biggest news in C-Arms heading past 2010 concerns the first great leap forward in the digitalization of imaging OR.

"We're in a luxury spot where the biggest buzz in the industry is also the biggest buzz in the company currently," says Mark Manum, director of marketing for Philips' OR Channel. "For the last year, we have been actively involved in introducing to the market flat detector technology for mobile C-arms, which is something that has not really been available before."

What this means is that you can now get the same high level technology-the digital technology-you have on your cath lab available on your mobile C-arms. Flat panel detectors are direct digital imagers and have numerous advantages over an image intensifier. For one, the quality of the image obtained from an FPD is distortion-free and thereby more accurate to read. The FPDs are also much lighter and occupy less space as compared to an image intensifier and they can have a much larger active area for detecting the X-ray beam.

Philips started shipping the Veradius mobile C-arm system with flat detector at the end of 2009 and saw strong 4Q revenue, which has continued through early 2010.

"Business in 2010 is continuing the trend of the market being a lot stronger than it was last year," Manum says. "We have introduced the next generation of seeing forward in the changing OR landscape."

According to Philips, the compact mobile C-arm system makes it easier to work around the table during delicate cardiac, vascular and orthopedic surgery and provides the clarity for the most challenging minimally invasive procedures with more confidence. The super thin flat detector on the Veradius frees up valuable space in the OR, by providing more room to see team members and coordinate tasks, and also the space to see your patient.

Another manufacturer to offer mobile C-arms with digital flat panel detector technology is Ziehm Imaging Inc. Last year, the company released three models with the flat detectors-the Vision RFD (30 cm x 30 cm detector), the Vision FD (20 cm x 20 cm) detector and the Vision FD Vario 3D which has a 20x20 detector and 3D multiplanar image reconstruction capability with navigation system interface options.

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