Health Imaging & IT - December 2008 - (Page 10)

Technology At Work: What You Need to Compete to a handheld unit deliver a one-two punch that meets both clinical resolution and image quality, which improves on current cardiac CT and business needs. and makes possible cardiac perfusion imaging. “We can watch carThe radiology department at Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chidiac blood flow and determine if a blockage reduces blood flow to cago invested in Zonare z.one ultrasound two years ago and uses it the myocardium,” explains Dardinger. Equally important, higher for mobile studies in the ICU and CCU—rooms crowded with respislice solutions reduce radiation dose. rators and monitoring equipment. “It’s challenging to transport a As researchers gather data, they are refining scanning protocols large machine to the ICU. Z.one is easy to maneuver and boots up for new systems. Some sites leverage shorter scan times to streamfast,” says Bruce Silver, MD, chairman of radiology. What’s more, line operations. A typical 64-slice scan patient requires beta blockoutpatient throughput is not interrupted ers, which stretches the scan appointbecause the department does not need to ment to one hour and requires a separate remove a system from service, which boosts room for IV administration and heart efficiency while improving service to hosrate and blood pressure monitoring. pital departments. Radiologists use the sysBecause very few patients require beta tem for a host of applications including blockers with higher-slice scans, biopsies and line access. “The common appointment time drops to as short as theme,” says Silver, “is that we are comfort20 minutes, decreasing the staff burden able with its image quality to use it for a and increasing patient throughput. “It’s wide variety of applications.” possible to complete 15 studies a day Other top imaging technologies reprewithout beta blockers, and there is less sent a larger shift in operations. Nearly a work and prep for staff,” sums Weigold. decade after its initial launch, DR is demOther CT solutions achieve similar onstrating its brawn and delivering on its outcomes via a different model. Siemens efficiency promise. When Springfield ClinHealthcare Somatom Definition DS ic in Springfield, Ill., opened a new clinic in delivers increased temporal resolution, [ A 3D view of a segmented coronary tree with 2006, it decided to invest in DR for optihelping sites improve throughput and transparent heart using Vitrea software from Vital mum efficiency and throughput, says Frana accelerate patient care. “Cardiac CT helps Images. ] Evans, director of radiology. Orthopedic reduce triage to disposition time,” shares surgeons comprised the primary target. Harold Litt, MD, chief of cardiovascular imaging at University of Initially, physicians were skeptical about the promised gains. Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. In fact, the hospiMany had lived through CR implementations at local hospitals. Not tal reduced average ER triage to disposition time from 23 hours with only had CR projects failed to increase efficiency but also created cardiac stress testing to seven hours using cardiac CT imaging. headaches with printers unable to accommodate the image magnifiLitt and his cardiac imaging colleagues also point to a need for cations orthopedic surgeons depend on. improved spatial resolution. One reason behind the drive for Evans held the course, confident that DR could deliver the 10-minimproved spatial resolution is calcium, says James Min, MD, direcute turnaround time physicians required. The clinic installed Caretor of cardiac CT lab at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York stream Kodak DirectView 7500 and DirectView 9000 systems, locatCity. Current-generation imaging does not discriminate between ing the new DR rooms in the center of the orthopedic area. The sysstenoses by the percent of blood flow blocked. “This problem is only tem performed as promised—delivering five minute turnaround fixed by improved spatial resolution,” Min says. Weill Cornell within weeks of deployment. recently upgraded from the GE Healthcare LightSpeed VCT XT to One advantage of DR, beyond the efficiency linked with the elimLightSpeed CT750 HD; HD 750 improves spatial resolution to accuination of film and film handling, is anytime/anywhere viewing. rately quantify stenosis in coronary and vascular vessels. Springfield Clinic makes images available via centrally located viewing stations and on portable tablet computers. In many cases, physiImaging modalities on the move cians access images before the patient returns to the room, boosting While higher slice-count CT burst onto the scene in late 2007, other physician productivity and patient satisfaction. In other words, DR imaging modalities have gained traction in a more gradual fashion. supplies maximum efficiency. Standouts, according to Health Imaging & IT readers, are handheld Efficiency isn’t the only driver behind tech adoption. In some cases, ultrasound, DR and breast MRI. clinical service rules. 2008 saw a boon in breast MRI technology In the era of incredible shrinking budgets, solutions that provide installs largely due to American Cancer Society (ACS) recommendaa favorable price-to-performance ratio merit a close look. Hybrid tions for screening high-risk women with breast MR taking hold, and ultrasound systems that convert from a standard, cart-based system 10 Health Imaging & IT | December 2008 HealthImaging.com http://www.HealthImaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT - December 2008 Table of Contents The Enterprise News Update Technology at Work: What You Need to Compete Why 1.5T MRI is Leading the Pack Workflow Strategies Aid Advanced Visualization Deployment Illuminating Reading Room Design for Better Reading Strategies Cardiac SPECT Sharpens its Focus OrthoPACS: The Information Backbone of the Orthopedic Clinic Imaging Tools Reader's Resource

Health Imaging & IT - December 2008

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