From the March 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Certainly, with CT and angiography, that synchronization adds a diagnostic value that is less apparent with a standard MR scan, where “they often inject by hand and feel comfortable,” says Pering. “One reason is because you can be in an MR suite without fear of radiation exposure.”

Mallinckrodt has also taken an interest in the IT side of contrast injectors. In late 2014 they launched their OptiSync data management system to collect and analyze radiology data when a patient undergoes a contrast media-enhanced CT diagnostic procedure. “Innovation is about always seeking to find a better way, both for our customers and their patients,” says Brague. For Mallinckrodt, collecting data on contrast usage represents a major opportunity for endusers to better understand how they can get the best images from the least contrast.


Bayer’s Pering echoes that sentiment, “If someone has always done CT images with a certain volume of contrast, and another physician gets the same quality images with less contrast, that is an opportunity to improve.” But she acknowledges that the ideals of patient documentation have to meet with a certain degree of cost sensibility. “The challenge is balancing the cost of an injector with technical features, and what we think an injector can contribute to an MR and CT.”

Dr. Paul Bhella, staff cardiologist and director of cardiac imaging at the JPS Health Network, uses contrast to enhance select echocardiograms. “Injectors are important for CT because you can’t get the contrast in fast enough without them. But ultrasound contrast does not require an injector. It is given with a slow administration, sometimes dripped in an IV bag.”

Injector maintenance is key
Part of Maull’s cost-sensible perspective on injector integration may stem from the non-clinical nature of his work. “My primary expertise is not so much in the clinical applications of the injectors, but more in the operation and maintenance of them,” says Maull. As such, it may not be surprising that he is less responsive to the benefits of data aggregation. Once or twice a month, he teaches a class of 8-10 biomed students on the proper operation and maintenance of injectors. Maull says they often come in a bit leery of using the machines, but after a couple of hours of lecture they are ready to start getting some hands-on experience.

The vast majority of injector malfunctions, according to Maull, are a result of contrast spillage. “It’s not a big deal if operators clean it up as it happens, but a lot of them don’t, so it eventually gets into components of the injector head,” he says.

March 2015 Magazine

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