Also, radiologists complain that it’s very challenging to work with cable in the room. It’s easy to trip and some wheelchairs and gurneys can get tangled in the crossing cables. This is obviously not a problem with wireless.

The problem with wireless technology is that cost is keeping many hospitals from going this route, and experts estimate that only about 10 percent of all hospitals have made the switch.


Workflow developments
Siemens introduced a new rad platform—the Ysio—in 2008 that was mainly driven by a wireless detector. Features of the Ysio include one or two detectors, with or without a patient table, and with fully automated or synchronized movements.

The solution lightens user workload by simplifying the radiographic routine and can be configured to the needs of customers with its wireless detector and intuitive control via an interactive color touch screen.

“Our concern was, ‘How can we make it easier for the users to operate in the system like they are used to with the cassettes?’ and ‘How can we get back to easy workflow?’” says Siemens’ Schmiedel. “In general, you will see that innovation in workflow and making things easier for the customer and making better outcomes for the patient will drive business in the U.S.”

Toshiba is seeing its RADREX-i gain momentum in 2010. The system’s patient-focused design helps health care facilities automate X-ray examinations, improve patient care and enhance departmental workflow.

“We started off with two fixed detectors, but we increased our product portfolio to meet people’s needs and we have added more to the family,” says Aaron Ybarra, X-ray product manager in the X-ray business unit of Toshiba Medical Systems, Inc. “We added a mix detector, a portable detector in the table instead of a fixed 17x17, which allowed much more flexibility for the technologist because they could do more cross tables and standing feed, instead of taking people off gurneys. We also added a single detection system that can move back and forth between the wall stand and table.”

Among those that have benefited from this system is Japan’s Kariya Toyota Hospital, which has installed five of these detectors in its rooms.

“This Toshiba DR system has definitely made diagnosis easier with impressive image quality,” said the hospital’s Dr. Masaru Mizutani in an e-mail to DOTmed Business News. “The image quality from the RADREX-i systems is extremely high when compared with CR. For example, with chest radiography, the mediastinum is demonstrated well and in the same image diagnosis of lung fields is extremely easy.”

More Industry Reports