Extend the Life of Your X-ray Imaging Equipment
Reading Time: 9 minutes read
Mid-cycle refresh can increase clinical, operational, and security benefits.
How would you rate the value you are getting from your current X-ray imaging equipment?
Does it support new medical imaging software that can help improve clinical outcomes? Does it have automation features that improve operational efficiencies? Does it have the most current security features to help prevent against cyberattacks?
If not, consider investing in an affordable mid-cycle refresh to increase the value and extend the usefulness and life of your imaging equipment. Installing the latest computer hardware and Carestream’s ImageView software, powered by Eclipse, will give you greater clinical, operational, and security benefits today and readiness to adopt future capabilities.
What exactly would you gain from this mid-cycle refresh? Read on.
Enhance the clinical value of your imaging equipment
Carestream has made significant strides in our image quality that enable physicians to make a more confident diagnosis. These advanced features are available only with our ImageView software, and it is the platform that we will build on to deliver additional features to help improve clinical outcomes in the future. Powered by Eclipse, ImageView utilizes AI and Carestream’s proprietary algorithms to provide our most advanced image processing capabilities for superb image quality and diagnostic confidence.
Here are some of the more impactful features that are available only with ImageView:
- Architected to support advanced applications including Dual Energy and Digital Tomosynthesis that provide additional clinical information for improved diagnostic confidence.
- AI-based Smart Noise Cancellation that uses deep-learning technology to isolate noise from the signal, then subtracts the noise – producing images at a lower dose that are dramatically clearer than what our standard noise suppression provides.
- Improved image processing looks that provide an even higher level of image quality with consistent presentation. Physicians have better diagnostic confidence when they can view radiographs in the manner most suitable to their preferences.
- AI-driven features that help improve image consistency and reduce retakes.
Gain operational benefits that streamline workflow and improve product reliability
Many healthcare facilities are experiencing staffing shortages. Your radiographers need to work as efficiently as possible in order to keep pace. In visits to clinics and hospital departments, we interact with technologists often. We hear their feedback on how they want to perform radiologic exams faster and with fewer software interface transitions. Our ImageView software utilizes artificial intelligence to help optimize workflow and boost productivity, improve image consistency, and reduce retakes.
Also, our ImageView software platform is available across our entire DR product line and uses one common user interface. This makes it easier for radiographers to interact with different DR systems; and it reduces training time and costs. This attribute is a bonus for onboarding new and temporary technologists.
Here are some of most highly-rated time-saving features for image capture:
- Our intuitive user interface, designed from customer feedback, reduces clicks and screen transitions for optimized workflow.
- Single screen workflow helps optimize productivity by minimizing screen transitions and placing commonly used capabilities no more than a single click away.
- Technique Wizard allows users to quickly and easily customize their entire set of techniques to their specific preference.
- ‘Repeat’ function provides the ability to retake an exposure (duplicates patient position, patient size, grid, techniques, filter, field size, focal spot and detector) without needing to follow the Reject workflow or add a new view.
- Detector Verification notifies the user at the console, primary and TH displays when a non-selected detector has substantial movement while in the Ready state, indicating the incorrect detector was selected. This feature is designed to prevent shooting the wrong detector and needing to re-exposure the patient.
There are numerous other time-saving features including a quick “repeat” button, the ability to evaluate image quality with enhanced zoom features, a tech assist dashboard for image quality exposure indicators, an onboard radiologic positioning app, and a quick “un-reject” button in case a crucial image needs to be re-used at a later point.
AI-powered features accelerate workflow
ImageView also paves the way for facilities to adopt our AI-powered “Smart Room” features: Smart Auto Position, Smart Patient Positioning, Smart Collimation, and Smart Technique. In addition to increasing patient throughput, these features can help improve image consistency, highlight specific pathologies for special evaluation, and reduce retakes, all contributing to a smoother running department and better patient care.
Here are two examples of the time savings that can be gained with these Smart Room Features. First, a recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology reports that, on average, 18% of imaging exams require retakes, with 15% of those retakes due to exposure issues. Carestream’s Smart Technique automatically selects the appropriate acquisition technique based upon the patient’s size. This can eliminate up to 492 retakes every year. And because retakes require about three minutes each, this could save more than 24 hours each year – while it enables faster dose setting and reduces overexposures. (1)
A second example is Carestream’s Chest Image Auto-Correct feature that applies AI to automatically display chest images in the proper orientation. This is key, as a study presented at the 2019 Conference on Machine Intelligence in Medical Imaging, reported that 83% of all bedside chest X-rays require manual intervention to rotate images – requiring 19.59 hours of manual clicks over a period of one year. According to this study, Chest Image Auto-Correct has the potential to reduce those 19.59 hours to just seven minutes of clicks per year – a dramatic time savings to accelerate workflow for radiographers, reduce costs and allow images to be sent to PACS more quickly. (2)
Another benefit of our automated DR workflow is the ability to decrease close contact with patients when needed — a huge benefit in the presence of infectious diseases or viruses like COVID.
Upgrading to ImageView will also let you adopt new components like detectors. This enables your facility to take advantage of innovative detectors like our lightweight Lux 35 Detector, DRX-L for single-shot long-length imaging, and lower cost Focus detectors.
One last win for operations: a mid-cycle refresh delivers greater reliability and serviceability – extending the usefulness and lifespan of your X-ray imaging equipment.
Tighten security
The third foundational improvement you will gain with a mid-cycle refresh is enhanced security.
ImageView Software delivers advanced security capabilities to protect you from the ever-changing cybersecurity risks threatening your standards for patient care, regulatory compliance, reputation and finances:
- ImageView with Microsoft® Windows® 10 and other built-in “Secure by Design” elements, such as intrusion detection and prevention, is Carestream’s most secure medical device software.
- Connecting the medical device to your Domain provides centralized user administration, shared credentials with other systems, Single Sign-on, MFA (Multifactor Authentication) and site security standards.
- Keeping current with cybersecurity offers improved protection against cyber attacks.
- Access to RIS and PACS through ImageView can improve productivity and reduce the number of workstations to maintain, lowering IT costs.
- Carestream technology provides the foundation to run advanced, data-intensive applications.
- Standard Grade and Military Grade encrypted Data at Rest (DAR) and Data In Transit (DIT) protection options are also available.
Invest today to future proof your medical imaging systems
We understand that money and time are obstacles to upgrading. However, a mid-cycle refresh gives you access to the most advanced imaging features that are available on brand new X-ray modalities for about 10% of the cost of original equipment. Upgrading is an affordable way to gain a wealth of clinical, operational, and security benefits.
We know that upgrades are time-intensive and will require taking your room or mobile system out of rotation – perhaps for a full day. However, your system will be more reliable as a result of this scheduled downtime, reducing the possibility of an unexpected shutdown in the future.
Additionally, you might gain some unexpected benefits from having Carestream engineers on site for a day. Often we can suggest workflow improvements or observe an issue in your equipment that will be problematic if it goes unchecked.
I hope this information has helped you understand that upgrading to ImageView software gives you tangible gains in clinical, operational, and security areas, and extends the life and usefulness of your X-ray imaging equipment into the future.
Jatin (JT) Thakkar is a seasoned leader with over 20 years of experience in global service operations and strategic business transformation. In his current role as General Manager for Global Services and Solutions at Carestream, he oversees the services P&L globally across all lines of business, and is responsible for development and implementation of service strategy and long-term growth plans. JT also leads the service commercialization of all products and solutions. Over his career he has worked across all functions of customer service and successfully deployed enterprise-wide programs and globally-harmonized processes to drive operational efficiency and customer value. He has been a recurring speaker for the Technical Service Professional Association and Field Service Medical and is currently on the WBR Field Service Advisory Board.
Learn more about maintaining X-ray imaging equipment:
3 Service Strategies for Medical Imaging Equipment in 2023
5 Strategies to Maximize the Return on Your Radiology Equipment
References:
1 Unified Database for Rejected Image Analysis Across Multiple Vendors in
Radiography. Kevin J Little, Ingrid Reiser, Lili Liu, Tiffany Kinsey, Adrian A Sánchez,
Kateland Haas, Florence Mallory, Carmen Froman, Zheng Feng Lu.
2 Leveraging Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence in Detecting the Orientation of
Chest X-ray Images. Khaled Younis, PhD, GE Healthcare; Ravi Soni, MS; Min Zhang,
PhD; Najib Akram; German Vera; Katelyn Nye; Geisha Rao; Gopal Avinash, PhD;
John Sabol, PhD.