by
Joan Trombetti, Writer | April 10, 2008
The OEC shutdown sent shockwaves throughout the new and used C-arm industry, leaving most scrambling to find a way to fill the void. Philips, Siemens, Hologic and Ziehm went into high gear, with Phillips and Siemens snapping up a good deal of the market share that once belonged to GE/OEC.
The circumstance allowed Ziehm Imaging to place C-arms in the United States market and successfully demonstrate their innovative technology in some previously unavailable OEC forums. As of this date Ryan Hales, Product Manager, says, "we believe that Ziehm's technology surpasses that of OEC and we're well-positioned to capture more market share in the US."
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Ziehm is very well established in European countries with 60 plus percent of the market share. Ziehm has headquarters based in Nuremberg, Germany, New York, NY and Riverside, CA. Their most notable C-arm line is the Vision family. This line offers a combination of advanced image processing and advanced components in the imaging chain that allows them to provide high quality images while reducing the dose to the patient and physician.
Competition brings out the best in products
Scott Burkhart, Vice President of general X-ray for Philips describes the GE/OEC situation as "the perfect storm" in a good way for Philips. "The consent decree was announced at the same time that we released our new generation of C-arms," says Burkhart. That includes the BV Pulsera with 3D imaging, capable of handling large volume reconstructions, providing large overviews and fine details.
Philips is also promoting the fact that their C-arm systems are developed to get excellent image quality at a minimum X-ray dose. Public interest has grown over the amount of radiation emitted from all diagnostic X-ray equipment. Burkhart claims Philips' C-arms use only enough radiation to produce a clear image, while simultaneously keeping the exposure of the patient and hospital personnel at a minimum.
Siemens Medical Solutions, headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Erlangen, Germany, has also benefited from the OEC shut-down. In January 2008, Siemens reported revenue of $3.88 billion compared to $3.08 billion January 2007.
