From the November 2020 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Moving away from routine daily chest X-rays in ICU
In late July, two physicians in Boston called on their peers to
abandon the practice of performing routine daily chest X-rays on patients in intensive care without a specific clinical reason.
Dr. Jason Maley and Dr. Jennifer Stevens said that daily chest X-rays in the ICU, although well intended, are outdated and do little to benefit patient outcomes.
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“For most patients, routine daily imaging of any form is not necessary, whether chest X-ray or another modality,” Maley, a fellow of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, told HCB News. “Imaging studies in the ICU are best used to answer particular clinical questions rather than routinely monitor patients. Point-of-care ultrasound performs as well or better than chest X-rays to evaluate most lung processes in the ICU, and is an alternative to chest X-rays.”
The two used a common real-life example to emphasize their reasoning, in which an inpatient in the ICU with pneumonia receives a chest X-ray that appeared to show a collapsed lung. A lung ultrasound, however, shows no pneumothorax and is followed up with a chest CT, showing resolving pneumonia and no pneumothorax. After discussions with a radiologist, it is determined that the chest X-rays actually show a skin fold that mimicked a pneumothorax.
Carestream unveils X-ray system to support transition to digital
Carestream Health brought a new X-ray system to market in August that enables providers to more easily
transition from analog or retrofitted X-ray rooms to digital imaging.
DRX-Compass X-ray System is a fully digital unit that comes with a set of advanced features, as well as additional capabilities that can be added over time on a need-by-need basis and based on each individual facility's budget.
"Studies have shown patient dose reductions using DR over CR and film; exam times will be quicker for the Radiologic Technologists and images will be delivered instantly, ensuring the technologist has everything the doctor may need," Steve Romocki, worldwide product line manager for radiology systems at Carestream, told HCB News. "The DRX-Compass User Interface is intuitive and was developed with Radiographers during every step of the process to make the transition easier."
