Digital Radiography Systems Enhanced to Produce Soft Tissue Image of the Chest

New enhanced chest imaging technology automatically suppresses the ribs and clavicles to improve the visibility of soft tissue structures in the lungs, allowing the physician to interpret pulmonary nodules with greater confidence.

Furthermore, as Riverain Medical's (Dayton, OH, USA) SoftView uses the existing chest X-ray to produce the soft tissue image, it eliminates additional dose and motion artifacts commonly associated with dual energy solutions. Ribs and clavicles on a chest X-ray frequently make it problematic for the physician to obtain a clear evaluation of the lung tissue. Until now, radiologists have used dual energy technology to improve the visibility of the lungs. The technique involves the successive acquisition of two images consisting of a low and a high-energy spectrum. The physician can then use these two images to visualize the soft tissue in the lung.

Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany) is now offering SoftView from Riverain Medical with Ysio, their latest digital radiography system. SoftView enables the physician to acquire a soft tissue image faster and without any additional radiation dose for the patient. "Patient positioning, radiation dose, and inspiration can make the interpretation of a chest X-ray challenging. SoftView suppresses the ribs and clavicles on a chest X-ray to improve the clarity of the image, even when image quality is low,” explained Dr. Stefan Palmers, Ghent Hospital, Belgium, who is already working with the technology. "Siemens Healthcare's Ysio and Riverain Medical's SoftView technologies together produce optimal image quality.”

SoftView is available from Siemens as a one-stop solution with Ysio, but can also be acquired as an upgrade for other digital radiography systems from Siemens. The software can easily be integrated and requires no adaptation of the clinical protocols for chest X-rays.

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