"The lines are blurred a lot. You can't think of it simply as CR vs. DR anymore. CR is becoming more DR like and DR is becoming more CR like in many instances," says J. Anthony Seibert, an expert in digital radiology who works at the UC Davis Medical Center.

Fujifilm was the pioneer of CR back in the early 1980s and were first to market. When DR came along about a decade ago, there was some concern that the technology would eventually eliminate CR, but they have witnessed both technologies staying strong. Not only hasn't CR fallen by the wayside, but improvements in CR's design have in fact made it more competitive with DR.


"There's no question that when DR started to become more popular and came down to a price point that could be afforded by the community hospital, CR became more competitive as well," says Penny Maier, Fujifilm's Director of Marketing, Imaging Systems. "One of the nice advantages that DR originally brought to the table was improvements in image quality. CR responded with improvements in image quality to really put it on par. I think the end user can certainly benefit from those advantages. Just like any new technology after it has been sold for a few years, DR is no different, but CR is no different. We have seen the price start to decline for both."




"Wind back the clock 10 years and I thought CR was dead in the water, but I was wrong and it's going to stay around for years to come," Seibert says. "The reason why is that it is portable, has multiple detectors, is pretty immune to damage. If you damage a DR system, you're going to be out $80,000. I think from that perspective, CR as a drop in for conventional film radiology will be in for a while. It's a really nice transition to a truly integrated digital radiography department."

The Facts of DR

It's very likely that the debate over CR vs. DR will continue over the next decade and beyond but it's important that imaging departments have a thorough understanding of the technology behind the process, their advantages and disadvantages of each and the bottom line costs of delivering the quality and efficiency they seek.

"I think we are going to continue to see a mixture of both cassette-based and cassette-less imaging," says Darren Werner, Marketing Manager Digital Products for Konica Minolta Medical Imaging. "I think a desire for portable imaging cassette will remain because of flexibility of use. I think examples of that are already coming into the marketplace."

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