At ECR 2015, Agfa HealthCare will focus on the future of radiology, demonstrating how its imaging and IT solutions meet not only the needs of today's healthcare industry, but also support the healthcare model of the future. "More than 140 years of experience in radiology have put us in a unique position to help make a difference to the future of radiology, and at ECR we will show how that translates into solutions that meet the real needs of all types and sizes of hospitals," says Luc Thijs, President of Agfa HealthCare. "We are looking forward to demonstrating how our comprehensive portfolio of healthcare IT and imaging solutions enhances integrated care and collaboration throughout the patient care continuum, while offering image quality, versatility and scalability for every hospital."
Digital radiography advantages for every hospital
Proven digital radiography:
Agfa HealthCare has a global installed base of some 50,000 digital radiography systems, all integrated with its 'gold-standard' MUSICA image processing. At ECR, Agfa HealthCare will show how it is using its extensive experience and expertise in digital radiography to support the goals of healthcare providers around the world. The DX-D 100, for example, a compact, mobile solution now offers lots of new features that provide added value such asincreased maneuverability due to a telescopic arm and collapsible column, while the DR 400, a scalable, digital radiography system, has a floating tabletop and double-touch foot switches making it user-friendly for both the operator and the patient.
Fast Forward to digital radiography (DR):
Agfa HealthCare is committed to ensuring that every hospital or practice can implement DR. To support this, it has launched the Fast Forward to DR upgrade program, allowing customers to move their technology forward by easily transitioning from analog or computed radiography (CR) imaging to cassette-less DR technology.
Agfa HealthCare will also be highlighting its DR Retrofit solutions, which offer an easy, affordable and fast way to migrate to direct digital imaging using the facility's existing X-ray equipment. How fast? Visit the company's booth to find out for yourself.
"The right dose of expertise":
At the Agfa HealthCare booth, visitors can learn how the company has concretely committed to the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), with solutions designed to deliver the optimum balance between low radiation dose and high image quality. Studies have shown that substantial dose reductions of up to 60% can be achieved with Agfa HealthCare's cesium-based detectors, combined with MUSICA image processing (*).
"Because life is precious":
While dose control and reduction are important for all patients, neonatal care and imaging present special challenges. At ECR 2015, Agfa HealthCare will show its newly launched next generation MUSICA for Neonatal, which offers all the advantages of next generation MUSICA, along with special features dedicated to neonatal imaging. As a result, MUSICA for Neonatal offers an optimal balance of soft bone, lung and abdominal tissue in a single image, reducing the number of images needed.
Healthcare IT helps eliminate borders
Single platform for Enterprise Imaging:
Agfa HealthCare has converged its enterprise and departmental diagnostic imaging solutions (radiology, nuclear medicine, cardiology, etc.) into one single platform for Enterprise Imaging that allows any physician to create, collaborate on, exchange, view and manage a comprehensive medical imaging record throughout the patient's care. The result is a universal delivery tool that supports integrated care across the department, enterprise and region, enhancing cost-effectiveness and efficiency.
Agfa HealthCare's Enterprise Imaging for Radiology solution is extending in all directions. New features and options include enhanced functionalities for collaboration, reporting, advanced visualization, and offsite hosted deployment. This unified imaging management platform which offers the tools radiologists need to achieve gains in clinical productivity is now live at more then 100 sites across different regions worldwide.
The new EHR Portal, being launched at ECR, is a first step towards a gateway to integrated care. With the Portal, everyone involved in a patient's care - physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, home care providers, the patients themselves, etc. - have easy and quick access to all of the patient's health information. The 'patient view' functionality allows patients to both download and upload their own health information, while the 'clinical view' gives physicians access to aggregated patient health data, for more informed decision making along the patient care continuum.
Advanced radiation dose monitoring:
With the integration of Qaelum's tqm|DOSETM ** platform, Agfa HealthCare is offering an advanced solution for patient radiation dose monitoring, analysis and improvement. At ECR, the company will showcase how the vendor-neutral Dose Management Solution integrates in existing PACS environments and collects the dose and metadata information needed for patient radiation dose analyses at the study, patient, device, modality or institution level.
* 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 of 50 to 60%, compared to traditional Barium Fluoro Bromide CR systems. Contact Agfa HealthCare for more details.
** Agfa HealthCare Dose Monitoring Solution with Qaelum tqm|DOSE(TM) platform is not available in the U.S. or Canada.
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,865 million euro in 2013.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2013 were 1,160 million euro.