September 17, 2018 — At the 2018 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, Nov. 25-30 in Chicago, Agfa Healthcare will show how it is developing smart tools to improve the direct radiography (DR) experience of patients and staff. The company will highlight its complete range of DR solutions powered by the MUSICA image processing technology.
MUSICA processing delivers exquisite details throughout the image, optimizes workflow and allows facilities to lower patient dose providing customers all the benefits of DR.
At RSNA 2018, Agfa will show how it is developing smart tools to improve the imaging experience of patients and staff, by integrating intelligence – not just automation – into the solutions themselves:
- Pre-acquisition: personalized dose settings, intelligent collimation control;
- During acquisition: intelligent automated exposure control; and
- Post-acquisition: automated image rotation, automated positioning and alert triggering.
The company has also developed data analytics tools that use the information in the DR log files to create meaningful reports for optimizing radiology efficiency. Data on rejects, manual cropping, deviation indices, exam times and more can be included in reports tailored to the specific department or use.
MUSICA3+ offers improved performance for difficult imaging requirements, while Dynamic MUSICA processes both general radiography and fluoroscopy images with the same high image quality and efficient workflow.
A recent study carried out by the University Hospital of Munich, investigating the simplification of exposure techniques, found that Agfa is the first company on the market that fully exploits the benefits of DR technology, thanks to MUSICA's self-adaptive image processing technology.
To fulfill its goal of enabling every hospital and imaging environment to achieve the benefits of DR, Agfa offers a comprehensive range of radiography solutions. Each comes with MUSICA image processing and a choice of fixed, wireless and tethered detectors with cesium iodide (CsI) or gadolinium oxy-sulphide (GOS) technology. CsI also offers the potential for dose reduction.[1]
At the Agfa booth, visitors can discover:
Genrad/Fluoroscopy DR
The DR 800 is an intelligent, dynamic imaging solution designed to enable radiology to meet the growing demand for fluoroscopy, without requiring multiple investments. The flexible, multipurpose system supports enhanced image quality, productivity and workflow efficiency for the busy imaging environment.
Ceiling-suspended DR
The fully automated DR 600 offers ZeroForce and EasyStitch full leg/full spine stitching technologies. This high-productivity system unites automation with Agfa's image quality. It streamlines workflow, increases throughput, and enhances the experience of patients and operators alike.
Floor-mounted DR
The DR 400 brings scalable DR to the reach of every imaging environment. This complete, floor-mounted DR system can grow and develop with the needs of the facility. It delivers higher throughput with a lower cost per examination, all while providing excellent image quality.
Mobile DR
The DX-D 100 delivers mobile imaging excellence, with fast high-quality image capture and immediate image validation, transfer and access. Combined with a new, dedicated stitching cabinet and MUSICA FLFS stitching software, it offers a mobile solution for full leg/full spine imaging.
Visitors of the Agfa booth can also discover the DR 100e[2], making bedside and ICU imaging convenient and cost-effective. This mobile DR unit can be maneuvered down narrow corridors and set up wherever needed, for optimal patient comfort. The powerful X-ray generator, high DR quality and MUSICA image processing software provide excellent performance and productivity.
DR Retrofit
With the DR Retrofit, any hospital or clinic can make the move to DR, while maximizing existing investments. Analog and computed radiography (CR) modalities – fixed, mobile, full leg/full spine and mammography for CR modalities – become high-productivity DR in an instant.
High-speed tomosynthesis (Works In Progress)
Visitors to Agfa's booth can find out about Agfa tomosynthesis for DR[3], a works in progress, for multi-slice reconstructed images. Agfa's patented tomosynthesis algorithms use iterative reconstruction, resulting in less dose, noise and artifacts. Agfa has overcome the usual slow iterative reconstruction process, with algorithms that can reconstruct images in less than one minute.
For more information: www.agfa.com
References
[1] Testing with board-certified radiologists has determined that Cesium Bromide (CR) and Cesium Iodide (DR) Detectors, when used with MUSICA image processing, can provide dose reductions between 50 to 60 percent, compared to traditional Barium Fluoro Bromide CR systems. Contact Agfa HealthCare for more details.
[2] The DR100e is not available in the U.S. and Canada
[3] Agfa tomosynhesis for DR is a works in process and currently not released in the U.S. and Canada
April 22, 2024 
