Agfa Earns Award for Imaging Technology

Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Belgium) has been awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2006 Product Innovation Award for two digitizer systems: the new DX-S system that features a novel line-scanning laser, and the computed radiology (CR) 75.0 digitizer with its "drop and go” buffer that adds a very large throughput capability to an already advanced system.

With the 2006 Product Innovation Award, Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA, USA), an international growth consultancy company, confirmed Agfa HealthCare's leadership in innovation in the CR market, providing technologic advancements that improve patient care and user-compatibility in its CR digitizer systems.

The new DX-S single-plate CR digitizer integrates Agfa HealthCare's novel DirectriX needle-based detector, which features a unique crystal matrix that reduces diffraction. The digitizer also incorporates the Scanhead line-scanning laser unit that scans plates line-to-line. The Scanhead laser scans individual areas in a repetitive motion to transfer storage phosphor information to visible light. The DirectriX detector and the Scanhead laser reader can excite an entire horizontal line of the cassette for increased resolution and throughput.

Referring to the portability, speed, and image quality of the DX-S CR digitizer, Frost & Sullivan sees the system as "a core part of any clinical setting that needs the best image resolution in the shortest time. The DX-S offers functionality and exquisite images for any fast-paced, high-traffic medical unit, while the unique DirectriX and Scanhead units offer greater image resolution at lower patient radiation doses compared to other offerings in the industry.”

In the highly competitive field of CR systems that process multiple plates simultaneously, the Frost & Sullivan Award recognizes the CR 75.0 digitizer as the only system with the unique "drop and go” buffer feature. The major benefit of this system, according to the Frost & Sullivan's analyst team, "is the additional time that can be spent on patient care, as technologists can quickly return to the patient after loading cassettes into the unit.



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