GE Healthcare, the well-known leader in the portable X-ray market, recently introduced three new additions to its AMX product family, including the Optima XR220 AMX, a DR system with a new wireless detector and the Optima XR200 AMX, a unit without the detector, appropriate for customers who anticipate going digital in the future.

The company’s new wireless detector FlashPad, is designed to provide up to eight percent more coverage for key applications while keeping low dose levels. GE also built in ultra wideband technology into the FlashPad, avoiding the reliance of image transmission on a wireless network. “It creates a point-to-point network within the room that is much more accurate, more rapid for imaging and large imaging files,” says David Widmann, general manager of GE’s Rad/R&F business.


As with all mobile units, the life of the battery plays a key role in the product. “From our own quantification, it’s twice the life of the existing battery,” says Widmann.

Agfa Healthcare has also thrown its hat into the portable X-ray market with the debut of its DX-D 100 system. Like Philips’ system, Agfa’s unit also includes two separate batteries. “The battery we use for motorization is estimated to last for up to 30 hours of routine use,” says Greg Cefalo, the company’s U.S. imaging business unit manager. “The battery we have for the X-ray generator should be good for up to 200 thorax exams between charges.”

The DX-D 100 is available with four different generator options, ranging from 20 to 50 kVs. Both the monitor and the generator batteries can be charged while the unit is in use. The system is operated from a 15-inch touch screen and customers can choose between a gadolinium or cesium-based DR detector plate.

A portable X-ray unit is constantly moved around numerous departments, making system durability an inevitable requirement for providers. As the modality heads to DR, vendors are keeping the mobility factor in mind. “If you’re going to put digital on [a portable unit], you cannot compromise durability for digital,” says GE’s Widmann.

DR within hours
Given the advent of wireless DR solutions in the portable X-ray market, OEMs aren’t the only ones offering solutions to customers. Used and refurbished medical imaging equipment providers are also diving into the DR market by offering quick and cost-effective upgrade solutions.

Many of such retrofit upgrade kits are available for GE’s AMX family of portable units, a tremendously popular product line with more than 18,000 systems in its installed base.

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