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Beyond Comfort: The Importance of Patient-friendly Features
December 7, 2009
When patients have to have any diagnostic imaging exam, they are understandably nervous. Often times the anxiety they feel comes from thinking that a particular exam is going to be difficult, time consuming or uncomfortable. Toshiba has developed its technology with patients in mind and incorporates many patient friendly features into its systems. At this year’s RSNA, Toshiba highlighted its patient friendly features.
Magnetic Resonance
For patients undergoing an MR exam, discomfort from claustrophobia and the loud noise of the magnet are among the highest complaints. To address this, Toshiba developed the Vantage TitanTM MR, which features a large 71-cm aperture and open bore, offering the industry’s largest clinical field-of-view (55×55×50 cm). The bore’s diameter reduces the feeling of claustrophobia. Titan’s ultra short, open bore was designed to increase comfort and improve the imaging of all patients, especially those who are claustrophobic and/or bariatric. The open bore’s larger diameter enables facilities to scan bariatric patients with greater ease and provides patients with a greater feeling of openness to reduce claustrophobia.
Toshiba’s PianissimoTM technology reduces noise by up to 90 percent, making Toshiba’s MR systems the quietest available. Since the patient experiences lower noise levels with Pianissimo, patients stay more relaxed during exams and fewer motion artifacts are acquired, which helps improve image quality. Useful for imaging pediatric patients, Pianissimo helps technologists image patients more successfully and reduces repeat exams.
With all of the concern surrounding gadolinium, Toshiba’s proprietary contrast-free MRA techniques enable safer MRA imaging of patients with known renal compromise. These techniques include Fresh Blood Imaging (FBI) for evaluating peripheral vascular diseases of the lower legs and extremities; Contrast-free Improved Angiography (CIA) for easier visualization of smaller vessels; Time-Spatial Labeling Inversion Pulse (Time-SLIP) for evaluating hemodynamic, functional assessments, and visualization of vascular structures; and Time Space Angiography (TSA) to create non-contrast time-resolved imaging with high temporal resolution. Contrast-free techniques are safer for patients with renal conditions and require less set-up time, so the overall MR exam is completed faster, without compromising image quality.
Computed Tomography
The Aquilion® ONE was specifically developed with patients in mind. Not only is the comprehensive exam much faster than traditional CT exams – 0.35 seconds versus conventional helical CTs that can take approximately 10 to 12 times longer – but also radiation exposure is dramatically reduced because of volume acquisition. These patient benefits are especially important during neuro and pediatric procedures.
When a patient comes to a hospital’s emergency department exhibiting stroke symptoms, it can take hours to diagnose and treat the patient when time is of the essence. Toshiba’s Aquilion ONE dynamic volume CT system has the ability to improve the quality of life for patients with neurological symptoms, especially related to stroke, by reducing diagnosis time to minutes. In fact, the system allows physicians to reduce diagnosis time for life-threatening conditions, such as a stroke, from hours or days to minutes. Unlike any other CT system available, the Aquilion ONE covers up to 16 cm of anatomy using 320 ultra high resolution 0.5 mm detector elements to image an entire organ, including the brain, in a single rotation. It can show the organ’s dynamic blood flow and real-time function. The ability to see dynamic function, such as blood flowing through the brain, is critical for stroke patients in emergency settings and enables rapid and accurate diagnosis when time is critical.
Another reason to select dynamic volume CT is for its pediatric applications. The Aquilion ONE can significantly lower patient radiation dose exposure and decrease the sedation needed for exams. Traditionally, when children are imaged using multi-detector CT, sedation is required to keep the patient still long enough to obtain a clear diagnostic image. The Aquilion ONE’s fast exam time means less patient sedation is required. The system also features Toshiba’s SUREExposure™ Pediatric software, which automatically takes inputs on the size and age of each patient and tailors radiation dose to achieve the best and safest image quality for each exam. The software uses protocols selected based on the patient’s age, size and type of exam to ensure patients receive only the radiation required to obtain a clear diagnostic image. SUREExposure Pediatric software comes standard on all Aquilion products.
X-ray Vascular
CT is not the only modality in which radiation is a concern. Toshiba’s Infinix-i product line incorporates features that help to reduce exposure. For example, the systems come with fluoro dose level settings and fluoro pulse rate settings. Toshiba offers the industry’s widest range of pulse rates, which means that physicians have the ability to reduce flyoro pulse rate and fluoro dose level in an exam, providing two quick methods of reducing radiation exposure to the patient. Additionally, Toshiba’s lateral plane variable isocenter on its biplane systems saves time and exposure. During biplane positioning, the user will fluoro frontal plane and adjust table panning to center the part of interest. Next, they will fluoro the lateral plane and adjust lateral isocenter to match the frontal set-up. No additional fluoro is needed. Not only does this cut down on fluoro exposure, but it also speeds the exam time, reducing the risk to the patient.
Infinix-i systems also provide the greatest anatomical coverage and patient access in the industry, providing more efficient and safer patient care. Greater anatomical coverage means that the system moves around the patient, rather than moving the patient. Moving the patient can introduce greater risk.
The Infinix-i’s tables also are more patient friendly. Not only are the systems’ table weights the highest in the industry at 550 lbs., but also the tables include thicker pads complete with Tempur-Pedic® technology, making extended procedures more comfortable. Also, the new the CAT-880B hybrid catheterization table introduced at RSNA offers the lowest table top height of any catheterization table in the industry. Toshiba has even introduced accessories that expand the width of the system tables to accommodate larger patients and make the exams more comfortable.
Ultrasound
The move toward portability in ultrasound is helping physicians deliver more comfortable patient care. The ability to bring a diagnostic imaging system to the patient can often mean that someone already in discomfort does not have to be moved in order to be scanned.
In addition to the Viamo handheld system, Toshiba has continued its focus on portability by introducing the Aplio MX. Thirty percent lighter than traditional cart-based systems, the Aplio MX enables hospitals to complete advanced ultrasound exams, usually performed with larger systems, on a more portable system without sacrificing quality. Furthermore, it enables medical staff to easily bring the system directly to the point-of-care. For example, if someone is on a gurney and should not be moved, medical professionals can easily transport the MX to the patient’s location and get a high quality exam.
Toshiba’s Aplio MX ultrasound system includes:
- 4D imaging to produce high resolution renderings and arbitrary volume cuts in real-time or offline allowing virtual reconstruction in formats similar to CT and MRI.
- Differential Tissue Harmonic Imaging for better imaging of difficult-to-image patients, like bariatric, without sacrificing resolution to give superior border and tissue definition.
- ApliPure to enhance both image clarity and detail definition with real-time compounding technology to simultaneously perform spatial and frequency compounding during transmitting and receiving.
- Advanced Dynamic Flow to provide color Doppler imaging at an unprecedented level and show flow with directional information for even the smallest vessels.
- Precision Imaging to provide more detailed ultrasound images by capturing information from multiple lines to improve definition of the structure and minimizing noise and clutter.
- Elastography to enable a non-invasive medical imaging technique that evaluates tumors based on their stiffness (elasticity) compared to normal tissue.
- MicroPure to help physicians detect micro-calcifications using ultrasound, an imaging technique that is less strenuous on the technician and the patient than mammography, the current gold standard.