New DR units pace Agfa RSNA launches

Agfa HealthCare plans to introduce a range of work-in-progress digital radiography (DR) units, as well as a number of upgrades to its Impax PACS software, at the upcoming RSNA meeting in Chicago.

Greenville, SC-based Agfa will feature a work-in-progress DX-D 100 mobile DR unit, which supports several of Agfa's portable DR detectors, such as DX-D 20. DX-D 100 also features Musica2, Agfa's image processing software; it is operated from a 15-inch touchscreen display. Agfa plans to display DX-D 100 next to its DX-D 500n ceiling-suspended DR unit.

Also on display as a work-in-progress will be DX-D 400 DR, a floor-mounted radiography unit that can be configured in various ways, including basic analog with hard console, manual digital with soft console, and automatic digital with autopositioning and soft console, the company said. DX-D 400 can be used with film, computed radiography (CR) cassettes, or Agfa's DR detectors, and it also incorporates Musica2.

In addition, the company will highlight DX-D 10C, a work-in-progress portable detector with a cesium iodide needle scintillator. The detector is the size of a film cassette and can therefore fit into an existing analog bucky, according to Agfa.

Agfa will also introduce DX-M, a digital radiography package that can handle CR mammography, as well as both needle-based imaging plates (NIP) and standard phosphor imaging plates (PIP); it is not yet available in the U.S. The company will also highlight a new lower-cost version of its CR 30-X system for smaller facilities, and a new version of its SE image management suite that can be integrated into the same computer used as Agfa's NX workstation, the company said.

Agfa will also discuss its entry into the contrast media business through its 2009 acquisition of Insight Agents of Heidelberg, Germany; these products are not yet available in the U.S., Agfa said.

Imaging informatics

On the imaging informatics side, Agfa will highlight its latest Impax release, which combines Impax's RIS, PACS, and reporting tools in one Web-based desktop application. Users will be able to handle scheduling, patient check-in, order generation, reading, and reporting from inside the radiology department or from remote locations, through to the final report with images, Agfa said.

The company will also highlight its latest version of Impax 6, a combined RIS/PACS workflow application for data management and reporting. Some of Impax 6's new features include new guided workflows with personalized worklist management, advanced priority rules, and color-based sorting; intelligent worklist read-ahead workflow with Impax's local cache acceleration tool; improved productivity with automated multiplanar spine labeling; and new Impax business intelligence and data mining tools with digital dashboards.

Also on display in Agfa's booth will be updates to its Impax RIS package, as well as Impax Kiosk, a self-serve tool that patients can use to identify themselves, check in, and sign documents electronically (Impax Kiosk is available in the U.S. and Canada only).

Agfa will display its new Impax RIS mobile worklist, which allows technologists to consult patient charts and record studies wherever the patient is located, as well as upgrades to Impax Reporting, which now includes extended-addendum workflows and customizable templates, together with on-the-fly personalization of standard texts, and an updated version of TalkStation, Agfa's voice recognition and reporting package.

Agfa will also highlight a work-in-progress Impax business intelligence tool, which will provide historical, current, and predictive views of operations in the form of real-time dashboards, management reports, and ad-hoc queries against an Impax data warehouse from one browser.

The company will also showcase upgrades to Impax for breast imaging, including Musica microcalcification enhancement technology (not yet available in the U.S. or Canada); 1:1 Navigator for sector-by-sector review of an image at full resolution; and a scale-to-fit option enabling specialists to view the breast in the largest possible format on the screen, Agfa said.

Related Reading

Agfa brings DX-D 500n to Canada, October 13, 2010

Agfa awarded Kettering CR order, October 12, 2010

Agfa, Fuji get new DIN-PACS contracts, September 24, 2010

Agfa nabs more than 150 IT contracts in 2010, September 23, 2010

Agfa HealthCare revenues flat in Q2, August 27, 2010

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