Agfa kicked off this year’s RSNA with the unveiling of VALORY, a new digital radiography room designed as a lower cost system with enhanced image processing capabilities.

The solution is equipped with Agfa’s MUSICA3 and MUSICA3+, the third generation of the company’s image processing solution. Either option is able to provide quality details and balance bone and soft tissue to produce “first time right” imaging at lower radiation doses.

Also being launched at the show is the company’s new line of cesium iodide crystal detectors, known as Dura-line. The cesium-based composition of the detectors makes VALORY more efficient at capturing X-rays and deriving information out of the phosphor.
While expected to be a budget-friendly, main X-ray system for small healthcare providers, the system can also be used by larger ones as a backup, according to George Curley, director of marketing for medical imaging North America at AGFA. He adds that it may help to reduce overall cost in outpatient centers and can be used as well in clinics and ERs.

“This is really designed to meet that value segment where you need to provide excellent patient care, but it’s a budget-friendly solution that gives you all the advantages of high-end image processing and productivity without the higher cost that universities and teaching facilities usually pay for high-end equipment,” he told HCB News.

The system has a simple design with functionality beyond the “basics" and comes with a ceiling-suspended X-ray tube, 15-hour battery autonomy and the ability to share detectors between DR systems. These capabilities allow for providers to handle higher patient volumes, while still producing confident diagnoses, according to Curley.

VALORY comes with autotracking and autocentering features for smooth workflow and is designed to automate desired specifications to allow doctors to properly scan different types of patients, from neonatal to bariatric, as well as different age groups and different sizes and exams ranging from chest to abdomen to skeletal. It also has a radiographic table that comes with a choice of a fixed or elevating model that can support patients weighing up to 320 kg/705 lbs.

The detectors are divided into XD+ and XD, with the former constructed from a thick layer of cesium and the latter from a thinner layer. This makes the regular XD detectors cheaper to produce and therefore, more affordable to facilities with tighter budgets, while the XD+ is considered a hospital-grade cesium that is expected to produce high detector efficiency. Both types are available in sizes 10x12, 14x17 and 17x17 and can be either wireless or connected.

MUSICA3 and MUSICA3+ also align with the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principles for radiation dose and lower the amount of exposure for patients and healthcare staff. “Less X-ray is good for you as a patient. Less X-ray is good for me as a provider because I don’t get as much scatter, as much occupational dose as a technologist or a physician,” said Curley.

VALORY can be quickly and easily disinfected and is designed to grow and adapt with providers.

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