The referral market still relies on dry imagers for printing images for patients to share with other doctors. For other facilities, it comes down to physician preference. Many surgeons like to have the film image while operating in the O/R and some doctors like to have the film on hand while interacting with a patient.


"At the end of the day, when you sit down in front of your physician to talk about one of your problems, [an image on film] is certainly the quickest way. It's the old adage, 'a picture is worth a thousand words,'" says Kolberg.

An imager can still be found in facilities that offer breast imaging services, as centers that offer mammography are mandated to provide patients with film, if requested.

"Full-field digital mammography requires the ability to have a printer that is fully calibrated and qualified for mammography available within every facility for printing referral or diagnostic prints," says Agfa's McLain.

Although other imaging centers might not use their printers on a regular basis, many have them as alternative systems of support for times when digital technology fails.

"Printers are usually in sites as a backup if PACS are down. If you're in an emergency situation, you want to be able to print that film if you can't view it," says Buttino.

For some end-users, the continued reliance on printing is a consequence of budgetary constraints.

"We still have the rural hospitals, the medical facilities where their volumes are small and they haven't justified the infrastructure for digital yet," says Buttino. "Until they get there, their image sharing has to be in a common format, which is film right now," she says.

Imager options

For imaging facilities that are still using dry imagers, a number of units are available on the market. The modality has come a long way from the complex and bulky machines to simplified and smaller units that resemble conventional printers.

Although there are less innovations and new releases for this sector today, they still do occur. Carestream Health, for example, introduced its DryView 5850 laser imager last year. It's a tabletop model that has the capability to print high-resolution mammography and general radiography images. The unit has two trays and can print five film sizes.

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