Philips has introduced two new technologies to improve image quality and lower radiation doses for large orthopedic implants, according to the company.
The iDose4 Premium Package includes iDose4 iterative reconstruction technique and metal artifact reduction (O-MAR).
In addition to iDose4, the package includes RapidView IR, which works with iDose4 to not only enhance image quality but to also scan at low dose levels. Doctors have become concerned that patients are being exposed to too much radiation. And just recently, articles have reported that children who receive too much develop cancer at triple the rate of children who don’t.
iDose4 works by allowing radiologists to personalize image quality based on each patient’s needs, providing up to 57 percent improvement in spatial resolution at low dose, and permitting the majority of iDose4 images to be reconstructed in 60 seconds or less, according to the company.
O-MAR helps to define images better, reducing artifacts caused by large metal implants, such as prosthetic hip replacements. Pieces of metallic orthopedic hardware, or artifacts, can create obstacles to obtaining optimal images.
“Image quality and dose management are two of our highest priorities,” said Dr. George Ebert, M.D., Ph.D., vice-chair of imaging technology at Fletcher Allen Health Care. “By using iDose4 we can manage dose without sacrificing image quality. With O-MAR we achieve reduced artifacts caused by orthopedic implants. The iDose4 Premium Package is a smart offering of these two technologies.”
I remember when I was going through treatment for breast cancer, radiation was part of the protocol. Fortunately, I had no metal pieces to work around! But finding the exact right spot to irradiate proved very challenging, and the treatment wouldn’t have worked if radiologists hadn’t had clear images to find the precise spot to work on.
Today, seven years later, radiation is a lot more exact, with technologies like the CyberKnife, which can deliver high beams of radiation to tumors with extreme accuracy, taking care not to harm surrounding tissue or organs.
Patients with hip replacements need frequent x-rays. X-rays provide a road map of the hip and help to pinpoint if any changes have occurred. With the failure rate of hip replacements so high, clear images are critically needed to make sure they are in place and functioning properly. A study in the U.K. found that hip replacements failed almost 50 percent of the time.
Edited by
Jamie Epstein
