Carestream investing in next generation technologies and new market segments

Forecasts see an expected increase in demand over next 20 years for orthopaedic and sports medicine care

Why orthopedics and sports medicine? Growing market: Due to a more active, but aging, population, the medical profession is seeing increased joint replacement volumes. Today 12% of the population is over 65 (CDC data shows those over 65 put about 15 times the demand on the system) and that will move to over 20% in the next 20 years. 

Underserved market: Solutions haven’t always been specifically designed for these customers – they just adapted existing hospital based solutions, when they could afford them. They still send many patients off site to have diagnostic imaging done, creating extra office visits and potentially delaying diagnosis and treatment.

Forecasts see an expected increase in demand over next 20 years for orthopaedic and sports medicine care given higher patient longevity and active lifestyles of “weekend warriors” and recreational enthusiasts.

Our goal is to develop orthopaedic solutions for hospitals and clinics—as well as for sports medicine providers—that are compact and could be located in a wide range of facilities. In the field of sports medicine, our goal is to provide a digital imaging system for use in the stadium or locker room, enabling a timely evaluation of players to aid in decisions as to whether they should return to a game or practice session, or be referred for further medical treatment. 

This would come at a lower cost and radiation dose than today’s full body CT systems and also provide the ability for weight-bearing images, which is desired and not available today. This product may be further developed to deliver the image quality suitable for assessing and treating traumatic brain injuries.

Physicians from UBMD Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine will work with Carestream researchers to conduct clinical studies initially focused on the advantages of using cone beam CT (CBCT) technology in the diagnosis and treatment of knee injuries.

Carestream and the Buffalo Bills are working together to aid Carestream’s development of advanced medical imaging technology designed to help with earlier detection and monitoring of brain injuries. This partnership focuses on the need for new technology to help address key concerns in sports medicine, particularly those related to head injuries.

Carestream and Johns Hopkins University are collaborating on research and development of new 3D imaging systems, including a cone beam CT system developed for musculoskeletal radiology and orthopaedic imaging of extremities, with applications ranging from traumatic injury to arthritis and osteoporosis. Carestream and Johns Hopkins plan to expand their collaboration to include new systems for imaging of TBI to support Carestream’s product development activities that could help improve the diagnosis and treatment of head injuries*.

* Not Available for Commercial Sale