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EUROPEAN HOSPITAL Vol 23 Issue 6/14 6 RADIOLOGY ‘Customers tell us vendor neutral archiving is a great way to store their images, but they ask what good it is unless they can then access those images where and when they want for planning clinical pathways, or in consultancy,’ explained Christine Kao, Marketing Manager for Global Healthcare IT at Carestream. During RSNA 2014, Carestream showed it could push vendor neutral archiving (VNA) beyond data ware- housing by launching its Clinical Collaboration Platform, reported to be better at gathering, managing and sharing clinical data. ‘It starts by giving a broader capability to embrace data that is often scattered across a healthcare enterprise, some of it perhaps sitting in a cloud, sometimes just sitting in a camera in a clinic. There are videos from surgery, slides from pathology, dig- itised ECGs and photos taken by a dermatologist. All of this needs to be captured,’ Kao explained. The Clinical Collaboration Platform employs Carestream’s intel- ligent Vue Archive to archive and exchange clinical content in DICOM, but also goes beyond the traditional capabilities offered by a VNA in accepting non-DICOM formats. Files are managed in their native format without conversion. ‘We don’t care where a file came from, and the platform can accept any file,’ said Kao. ‘Once it is captured and tagged Report: John Brosky Agfa HealthCare is accelerating the shift to digital X-ray by enabling any radiology clinic to convert at its own speed and within its own budget with innovative and market-leading solutions. ‘There is no hurdle anymore for any customer to move from ana- logue X-ray to digital radiography,’ with meta-data, it can then be share with multiple collaborators through a web-based tool that can be loaded onto any web-enabled device.’ After capturing and archiv- ing patient data, the Clinical Collaboration Platform offers two further modules for enterprises to manage and distribute the data. said Jan Leeuws the Business Unit Manager for Digital Radiography (DR) at Agfa HealthCare. Under an umbrella programme called ‘Fast Forward’, Agfa HealthCare is bun- dling a portfolio of products to be presented at RSNA 2014 that enables radiology departments to affordably advance on a customised path that leads to the overwhelming benefits of DR for higher quality Again without reinventing an organisation’s practices, Carestream can embed the zero-footprint Carestream’s Vue Motion media viewer into an existing electronic medical record (EMR) to maximise the ability for physicians to col- laborate. The Clinical Collaboration images at a significantly lower dose. ‘The move to DR brings as many benefits to the healthcare provider as it does to patients by eliminat- ing the dark room with all its chemistry and improving workflow,’ said Leeuws. ‘There is still a lot of ground to cover,’ he said, adding that, despite the now clear advan- tages of DR, there remain a sub- stantial number of X-ray exposures being made with direct analogue or hybrid digitised computed radiogra- phy (CR) technologies. As a result, the achievements in reducing dose in radiography are still at a very early stage. With a worldwide installed base of close to 50,000 digital radiog- raphy systems, Agfa HealthCare is removing the last barriers against conversion to DR through the Fast Forward programme so that all healthcare facilities, regardless of size or budget, can flexibly and cost-effectively upgrade film and CR operations. ‘It’s a combination of highly sensitive detector panels with industry-leading processing power that allows us to reduce dose up to 60 percent over conventional plates,’ Leeuws explained. The standout in the portfolio is the newest introduction from Agfa HealthCare, the DX-D 40 auto-trig- ger detector that was introduced at RSNA. ‘We call it instant DR,’ said Leeuws, ‘because installation is quick, easy and non-invasive.’ ‘It took us less than a half hour to set up demonstrations at differ- ent customer sites in Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom or the United States and, when we we’re set to leave, invariably the radi- ologists would ask us to stay. They Platform is also workflow neutral, Kao said. ‘A doctor continues to see patients as always; he takes photos as he always has and with the same equipment. What Carestream brings is a way to help manage that data while seamlessly integrating with an existing IT ecosystem and clinical workflow.’ didn’t want us taking away the dem- onstration panel,’ he said. The demonstration also quickly convinced users of the many advan- tages of the digital format. Beyond improved image quality and lower dose, these include reduced exami- nation time, immediate verification of patient positioning, or improved accuracy of patient identification. The DX-D 40 allows a radiology group to continue using their exist- ing equipment. An automatic expo- sure detection (AED) sensor on the patient table activates the detector within a fraction of a millisecond for a true digital image acquisition. Requiring no cable connections, installation of the DX-D 40 means the detector integrates seamlessly with virtually any X-ray system. The detector sends the acquired image either to a dedicated laptop com- puter or a MUSICA image acquisi- tion workstation. Connecting to Agfa HealthCare’s next generation Multi-Scale Image Contrast Amplification (MUSICA) image processing, allows radiol- ogy centres to instantly reap the benefits of the digital format. The MUSICA combination with the DX-D 40 provides ‘no-excuses’ image qual- ity with greatly increased detail, pro- viding more diagnostic information from low dose images with a bal- anced presentation for visualisation of subtle features. The next generation MUSICA, presented by Agfa HealthCare at RSNA 2013, is exam- and body part- independent, thereby providing a consistently very high diagnostic quality image. ‘Installing improved technological capabilities is just one element of progress for a radiol- Cooperative collecting of patient data helps break down walls between ancillary departments, sites and networks to provide physicians with a single view of critical patient records. Embedding Carestream’s Vue Motion zero-footprint viewer into an organisation’s EMR can maximise the ability for physicians to collabo- rate. Physicians can conveniently access 3-D/MPR images, interactive reports and video streaming from their mobile devices or worksta- tions. In terms of healthcare depart- ments maintaining their autonomy while sharing a common work- flow, Carestream demonstrated its ‘data ingestion workflow’ via mobile devices as part of a work-in-pro- gress linked to this platform. The company also demonstrated added native reporting capabilities to cap- ture clinical notes as a part of this approach. ‘Equipping clinicians and patients with a new generation of clinical content capture and review work- flow tools delivers a more holis- tic view of the patient’s condition and can lead to better treatment decisions,’ Ludovic d’Aprea, General Manager for Global Healthcare Information Solutions at Carestream, pointed out ogy group,’ said Leeuws. ‘It’s not realistic to simply present staff with dose-lowering capabilities and expect them to immediately adopt a lower-dose approach. A core part of achieving dose reduction lies in the education and re-training of staff.’ ‘With DR the staff sees that every image they take is perfect, certainly better than ever before, but there is a risk of patient dose creeping up,’ he said. ‘Here, education is needed to show that, with these DR panels, they have such a wide dynamic range that actually allows them to further lower dose from previous exposure levels. Then to show them that, on top of this, they can apply Agfa HealthCare’s image processing to bring out more detail from the image so that the dose can be low- ered further. ‘What is driving Agfa HealthCare is achieving the optimum balance between the lowest possible dose delivered to patients while achiev- ing the highest level of diagnostic information required clinically to treat that patient,’ he said. The Clinical Collaboration Platform Fast Forward to digital radiography Opening archives for wider access during planning or consultancy Breaking down the last barriers against conversion from analogue or hybrid digitised CR to DR Copyright:Carestream Agfas’s DX-D 40 digital detector with Automatic Exposure Detection (AED) offers a fast and easy way for radiography facilities to benefit from high-quality digital imaging using any X-ray equipment Jan Leews, Business Unit Manager for Digital Radiography (DR) at Agfa HealthCare Image:AgfaHealthcare

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