Popular because they really can go anywhere

If a patient can't get to an X-ray machine, the portable X-ray machine can get to the patient, making it a very popular piece of medical equipment in settings in and outside of hospitals.


Portable X-ray machines are used on battlefields, in rural communities where health care facilities are few and far between, nursing homes, prisons and morgues.

Philips Healthcare offers the Practix Convenio battery powered portable X-ray system from the Practix family. These machines are compact and can take X-rays into very small places. The Practix Convenio is cable-free and can run for several hours on a single battery. Scott Burkhart, Vice-President, General X-ray and Surgery, Philips Healthcare says, "With computed radiography technology, staff and patients get all the benefits of a digital workflow." Burkhart says that Philips is working with various health care facilities to determine ways to install completely wireless DR portable X-ray systems. "It's a lot of research dealing with evolving technology," says Burkhart. "But we'll get it done."

Bob Burbury, Digital X-ray Engineer at Central X-ray, sells and services portables and installs CR systems in cars and vans. "Many people use the term 'portable' for all X-ray systems that have wheels that move around room to room. Large mobile X-ray machines used in hospitals are not easy to carry into nursing homes, morgues, prisons, etc. My business focuses on small lightweight portables like MinXray, Sterne and SourceRay, etc." Burbury says that these units can be driven around in the back of cars or vans and this market uses digital imaging equipment (mostly CR) to scan and process images. "Portable providers in my area are converting to digital from film technology, thus reducing read time, travel times and miles driven," says Burbury. He says that the learning curve varies from user to user from working and viewing images on laptop computers to actually learning how to work from inside the vehicle, to scanning, viewing and sending images wirelessly. Burbury believes that as the wireless imaging market continues to advance, the portable X-ray market will find many more applications.

Handheld Portables

Aribex, Inc. of Orem, UT offers the NOMAD line of handheld X-ray systems. These systems are used in dental and veterinary offices and for forensic identification. "Handheld X-rays can easily serve multiple operatories as well as out-of-office situations," says Steve Dawson, Marketing Manager of Aribex. They are also used in dental surgical suites, which rarely have conventional X-ray equipment. Dawson says that cordless, battery-powered, handheld X-ray devices have not only revolutionized the dental office, but have proven to be of incredible value in access-to-care situations. Because of their lightweight and ease of transport, they can go places wallmounted X-rays obviously could never go to help patients who were previously denied access to care. Dawson says that one of the biggest challenges his company has faced has been "the pioneering effort of introducing the new category of handheld X-ray with federal and state regulatory agencies." But with the latest research supporting the safety of their product, the enthusiasm of X-ray professionals who have purchased more than 3500 units and the clearance for handheld X-ray use in 41 states, the NOMAD has now been established in the industry.

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