One of the major questions that will need to be answered is in regards to the next generation of wireless and how DR data will be transmitted without interfering with other wireless resources in the hospital environment.





"It may be better for us not to use the existing spectrums that the hospital is using but our own special spectrums," says Burkhart. "Let's say it's 10 megabytes for an X-ray. With telemetry monitors you may have a couple of bits here and there, and X-ray comes along and we start shooting these cannons - huge volumes of 10 MB images through these networks. If you do it often enough, you could degrade that network."

Wireless mobile

A brand new development waiting on FDA approval is a wireless application for portable X-ray systems. Eastern Diagnostic Imaging (EDI) of Taunton, Mass., just announced that they are now the sole distributors of the i5 Mobile DR upgrade for portable GE Healthcare AMX-4 or AMX-4+ X-ray units. The upgrade is the result of a partnership between EDI, Infimed and Carestream. The i5 Mobile includes a wireless DR detector, tablet PC, and Infimed medical imaging platform. If approved, this upgrade kit could mark the beginning of tetherless direct-capture technology for mobile X-ray. EDI President Steve Walsh says the system may be available as early as first quarter 2010.

"It's going to be huge," says Walsh. 'I suspect this will double our business as far as volume goes. Once it's approved, we have a number of demos set-up. Several large institutions with 10, 12 or 13 portables are very interested in this product. It's going to be a very busy year."

Carestream also has their own works-in-progress kit for a wireless portable upgrade using the company's DRX detector. Other manufacturers will no doubt follow suit.

How much of it is hype?

Many in the industry are saying that the buzz about pricey wireless digital technology is mostly hype and high-end novelty, and wireless isn't necessarily a sustainable product in the long run.




"I just think that it's ironic that the industry has gone full circle," says Sbordone. "When digital first came to fruition, everybody wanted to move from cassette-based imaging to no handling of cassettes, and then came this big push for DR imaging. Some of the manufactures said, "Let's make a DR panel that kind of looks like a cassette." Here all of us DR guys find it kind of funny. They weigh five times as much and they cost 50 times as much. Although there is a lot of media hype about it, I think that trend will stop. Those $100,000 wireless cassettes don't make a lot of sense economically or logistically. I really think those are going to be for the guys who like Maseratis and Ferraris, because they're there. We'll have to wait and see."

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