Multi-head injectors require less contrast agent and are engineered to allow the same high 9 ml/sec flow rate at only 135 psi instead of 280 psi.

"You need dual-head injectors because it saves contrast and you need it to perform cardiac CT. New CT labs must purchase a dual head injector to optimally use the new CT technology," says Bruno Vandelanotte, owner of the Belgium-based company, Vandelanotte. Vandelanotte provides service on injectors throughout Europe. "With an MRI, you need dual head to reduce the use of the very toxic contrast. It saves time and is much more reliable."


Although it's not a core part of their business, Shared Medical Services does deal in selling injectors and has enjoyed steady business over the years.

"There are always people in the market for them and there's definitely a push towards the dual-heads because they like that they give you the saline flush when they're done, but we still sell a lot of single head, too," says Paul Zahn, director of the Cottage Grove, Wis. company. "Injectors don't break a lot, so they are pretty reliable."

Williams says that ACIST offers its Empower CTA dual-syringe injector with contrast and saline chase, which combined with the right phasing protocol and your scanner, can help maximize the benefits of a cardiac CT study. It offers 10 mL/sec maximum flow rate with "change on-the-fly control" and air embolism protection.

Improvements Continue

Other advancements have been made, and most of the innovation in contrast injector technology has been driven by safety and cost management concerns.

"Most injector systems are very user friendly and the most recent models are very intuitive and some are even voice prompting," says Patrick Miles, sales manager for Med Exchange International Inc. "Good training and documented procedures are vital in limiting user errors."

Another improvement companies are working with is KVO, which stands for "keep veins open." Essentially, if a patient has a needle in their vein or artery and an injection doesn't take place soon enough, an issue of clogging can occur. To prevent that, some MR and CT injectors have a keep vein open function where you can inject a very small quantity of fluid every 70 seconds or create a constant low flow rate of contrast to keep veins open.

In 2007, Swiss Medical Care introduced the CT Expres III, the first syringe-less contrast media injector designed for multi-patient use, eliminating syringes entirely. Last year they released DileJect, which offers interactive program capabilities for the system, which will help improve CT Angio diagnostics while reducing the amount of contrast media injected into the patient.

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