Carestream Solutions “Right for Today, Ready for Tomorrow”

“Right for Today, Ready for Tomorrow,” say Carestream Health (Rochester, NY, USA), proudly displaying their new strapline at this year’s European Congress of Radiology (ECR). The phrase epitomizes the company’s approach to providing customer solutions that respond to the changing nature of the European medical imaging environment. Carestream’s range of X-ray solutions clearly reflects this.

Cyrill Aschenbrenner, is Regional Business Manager Europe for X-ray Solutions at Carestream. “This is really our solution and approach to every customer, wherever they are on their journey to going digital, whether their investment is under tight budgetary constraints, we have our customers covered for future investments as well as current needs.”

Whenever these requirements change over time, customers can invest over that period rather than in one go and we can meet their needs. “We can upgrade, enhance, and deliver new features,” added Mr. Aschenbrenner.

One example of how the “Right for Today, Ready for Tomorrow” strapline comes into effect is evident with the CARESTREAM DRX-Revolution Mobile X-ray System. “Often in a hospital, the X-ray detector is brought from the mobile unit to the ICU in the morning for an hour or two and then it is parked for the day, resulting in a lot of unused capital in this detector,” he highlighted. “Now we have a solution whereby detectors can be shared between rooms to make workflow easier.”

With the CARESTREAM DRX-Mobile Retrofit Kit, radiology departments can retrofit their analogue mobile systems with the power of DR technology. Furthermore, the wireless DRX Detector enables departments to optimize their workflow and leverage optimal investment in their existing mobile units. The DRX Mobile Retrofit Kit is also compatible with imaging systems from other manufacturers.

While in discussion with Carestream at their ECR stand, a customer from Norway who had bought the mobile detector explained that, their budgetary constraints meant they could not buy as many detectors as they wished, so they opted for the retrofit approach. The customer said, “We found enabling and disabling fast, you can take it straight to the room, expose and there you go.”

If customers wish to change X-ray units later, they can keep the detector if they wish. “This approach to systems upgrades represents our tag-line perfectly. Customers value this because Europe is moving at different speeds and investments are lower than previously so we need to provide solutions over time,” explained Mr Aschenbrenner.

Also at this year’s ECR, Carestream introduced the latest version of image acquisition software for their CR and DR systems. This includes a bone suppression feature, which creates a companion image to suppress the appearance of posterior ribs and clavicles while enhancing the visualization of soft tissue in the chest. A new IHE Dose Reporting capability collects and distributes dose information from all CARESTREAM DR and CR systems to the hospital’s PACS.

“Our new bone suppression feature is designed to increase diagnostic confidence due to improved visibility of lung nodules and other pathology,” said Mr. Aschenbrenner. “Since the companion image is automatically generated from the original chest image, it will be available in seconds and requires no additional exposure to the patient or a separate X-ray exam. This feature will be available for portable and room-based CR and DR systems.”

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