by
Joanna Padovano, Reporter | January 17, 2012
From the January 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“What you want to accomplish is to improve your workflow and have superior image quality,” says Westin. “In cases of intensive care and emergencies, you need to get good diagnostic images.”
“You want to be able to have flexibility in how you use it, when you use it,” says Cefalo. “You want to be able to turn it in tight spaces because they’re heavy—you can’t lift it, they just weigh too much . . . you want a really flexible positioning capability.”
Durability is another essential quality that customers should look for in a mobile system. “Portables sometimes have a life that transcends the normal use factors,” says Widmann. “I would never say that they get run into walls on purpose, but let’s just say that they’re designed to be used in a different fashion, and so they have to be reliable. You certainly don’t want your portable unit to break.”
Widmann also mentions that customers should seek out an integrated portable unit that can take images right away in different types of situations. “The portable detector [should be] in sync with the generator and the tube operation of the unit so that you’ve got consistency and don’t need to worry about either waiting for an X-ray to arrive or some complication between the operation of the digital panel and the X-ray unit itself,” he says.
Struggles in the sector
“I think that the biggest challenge is price,” says Neukirch.
Another struggle for vendors is being able to rise above the competition. How can a company successfully compete in today’s portable market? “If you offer a good product and provide good support and fulfill the requirements for ease of use and workflow improvements, you’re in a good position,” says Westin.
Infection control is another challenge faced by the portable sector. “You’ve got this machine going from patient to patient to patient, room to room to room, so you want to make sure it’s designed to [prevent contamination] and/or the areas that contact patients can be cleaned easily,” says Cefalo.
Goodbye, analog
The general consensus among industry experts is that digital portable X-ray systems will eventually become the norm. The sector will also see more options moving forward.
“I think to make it more useful for not only the radiologist but also the technologist and ultimately the patient in terms of speed of imaging, you’ll see a continued development around detector technology offering more capabilities and advanced applications so you can see more with the image,” says Widmann. “The portable units themselves will continue to play an important role in terms of durability and reliability, especially as customers begin to live with digital panels on a longer-term basis, and the pace of innovation on digital panels begins to change.”
