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

Connie Stahl, a radiologic technologist for Seymore, Ind.-based Schneck Medical Center, still remembers clearly when the department transitioned its portable X-ray equipment from analog to digital (DR) less than 18 months ago.

"Our images became instant and we no longer had to take the time to process our films," Stahl says. "If there's a trauma case or if a physician needs to see the image right away so they can continue their care, they can view the image in the ICU or the emergency room. It was such an improvement."

The switch over to DR technology is still the biggest driver in the portable X-ray industry, but the changeover will still take a bit more time before it's complete.

Schneck Medical Center currently utilizes GE Healthcare's top-of-the-line DR system, the Definium AMX 700, a portable flat panel detector that allows processed images to be sent within seconds to an integrated monitor for review.

"This is what we all want when we go to do exams. If it's in use, we will wait," Stahl says. "We don't even like to take out our old portables anymore. This one drives so smooth, the interfacing works well and it is very user friendly."

Refurbishers also acknowledge the value of this GE Healthcare unit. Steve Walsh, president of Eastern Diagnostic Imaging, an imaging equipment refurbishing company, says the manufacturer is ahead in the industry.

"GE continues to maintain its market share in the portable business," says Walsh. "AMX portable is still the industry standard."

Along with GE, other OEMs are cranking out new equipment and advancements for the portable units, as the extinction timetable for analog units appears closer every day. Industry estimates have the digital units comprising as much as 80 percent of the industry with computed radiology (CR) only maintaining about 20 percent.

The only thing keeping everyone from having one is the price. Walsh says the adoption of DR technology is lagging because of a well-known concern: lack of capital.

"[The industry] is under the same constraints that all areas of medicine are under, the financial restraints of the economy," says Walsh. "It affects the hospitals just like everybody else. They can only spend what they actually take in," he says.

Although portable X-rays aren't at the top of a hospital's wish list, the consensus among industry professionals is that sooner, rather than later, they will be everywhere.

Siemens offers two different portable X-ray systems in the U.S., the Mobilett XP Hybrid, which uses analog film cassettes, and the Mobilett XP Digital, a DR system with advanced flat panel detection technology and a portable workstation for rapid image acquisition, processing and archiving.

More Industry Reports