From the January/February 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


“In today’s world of detector sharing across departments as a way of improving economic value, a variety of detector sizes offer a powerful advantage to health care providers both in and out of NICU settings,” Werner says. “Traditional U.S. standard sizes such as 10 by 12 can also offer the additional benefit of fitting existing grid caps and positioning devices, further helping to minimize the expenses of adopting newer technologies. The reality is, there are different sizes for the imaging tray in the incubator trays. That creates an opportunity for different detector sizes, and DR detector plate manufacturers will provide solutions that fulfill market demand.”

What’s next?
Mobile X-ray units have certainly slimmed down in recent years, but the overall package remains relatively bulky and uses a significant amount of power. Southern California-based startup Tribogenics is looking to change that with something truly portable - an X-ray source about the size of a soda can that runs on a 12-volt battery.



Based on research at UCLA funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, a U.S. Department of Defense agency that helps develop new technologies for the military, the technology uses special polymers that generate static electricity, instead of a high-voltage transformer connected to a vacuum tube. Tribogenics teamed up with Los Alamos National Laboratory last year to create a 5-pound, handheld prototype that uses a MiniMAX (Miniature, Mobile, Agile, X-ray) camera. Tribogenics CEO Dale Fox says his company, which was recently at RSNA, is planning to release a different product at the end of the year that will include a digital detector panel and integrated tablet computer for image display, manipulation and sharing.

While the earliest releases of the product will be geared toward the security field, the company sees it also being used on battlefields, after natural disasters and in remote areas far from hospitals. Fox can’t say what the cost of the device will be, but notes it will be “priced very competitively against existing technology.”

The company doesn’t expect that its device will phase out the portable X-ray systems already in use at hospitals and other facilities, but provide a more mobile option in places where that is needed.

“We’re not here to replace the X-ray machine that’s bolted to the wall,” says Fox. “We’re here to take that where it can’t go.”

In the aftermath of something like the Boston Marathon bombing, Fox says he envisions the technology being used to image victims on the scene, and also to inspect suspicious packages.

January/February 2014 Magazine

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