The compact design of flat panel detectors clears a lot of space in a
surgical suite, allowing the physician more room at the field and
demanding less of a storage footprint between cases. Touchscreen
capabilities as well as the ability to swivel and lock the arm at almost
any angle provide operational ease and efficiency.
Get the picture
Every C-arm system currently on the market includes digital storage
for the images it captures. As with computers, the amount of storage
capacity you'll need will depend on your facility's and your surgeons'
workflow. External drives that work in conjunction with C-arms can
be used to supplement their storage.
Most units also have the built-in capability to convert the images to
the universal DICOM standard for data portability across viewing plat-
forms. If you're considering buying a refurbished previous-generation
C-arm, however, you may need to purchase a separate accessory for
the conversion.
Major manufacturers also now offer the wireless transfer of images to
a facility's PACS system, which eliminates the need to push and steer a
heavy piece of equipment out of the procedure room and down the cor-
ridor to the nearest data jack (then back again), just to upload your sur-
gical images. Wireless transfer avoids wear and tear on your technology
— as well as on your tech.
Also keep in mind that with either type of C-arm, a flat panel detec-
tor or an image intensifier system, the availability of a removable grid
is invaluable for orthopedic cases. Used during an exam, a grid
reduces the effect of scatter radiation to enable outstanding clarity of
images while reducing and stabilizing bone fractures, for example.
Non-radiologists can think of it this way: If a gridless exam is compa-
rable to looking at the moon with your naked eye, an exam with a grid
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