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X-Ray in Motion | AI’s Threat to the Rad Supply | A Local Solution

November 15, 2018 Jake Fishman 7 min read

“With X-ray images in motion, clinicians can see structures in a way they have never been able to see before.”

Konica Minolta Healthcare’s Kirsten Doerfert, on how the company’s new Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) “X-ray in Motion” technology may change the way X-ray images are captured and viewed.

 

 

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The Imaging Wire

 

AI Threatening Radiologist Supply, Too
A study in Academic Radiology gave a new angle to the “AI will replace radiologists” debate, suggesting that artificial intelligence’s potential to reduce future demand for radiologists could be keeping some medical students away from the specialty. Of the 322 Canadian med students surveyed, 67.7% believed that AI would reduce demand for radiologists and an incredibly-high 29% believed that AI would completely replace radiologists (yikes). As you may expect from these survey results, the threat of AI appears to be influencing would-be radiologists’ career choices. Nearly half of the 70 students who ranked radiology as their top choice have experienced anxiety related to the potential impact of AI, while one-sixth of all students who would otherwise rank radiology as the first choice aren’t considering the specialty due to the threat of AI-created obsolescence. If this study is an accurate depiction of all medical students (and some say its not), it doesn’t paint a bright picture for the specialty’s short-term talent pool or the mindset of aspiring radiologists. However, the study did reveal that students who have been exposed to radiology and understand AI were less likely to be afraid of its impact, encouraging the medical imaging community to help medical students see radiology as a solid long-term career path.

 

X-Ray in Motion
Konica Minolta announced plans to unveil its forthcoming Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) technology, which combines conventional X-ray images and proprietary KM software to “create X-ray in Motion” imaging, without fluoroscopy. Previously proclaimed the “biggest thing in X-ray since digital,” DDR is an enhanced version a standard DR system that captures up to 15 sequential radiographs per second for up to 20 seconds of movement, equaling 300 X-ray images with the dosage of about two standard X-rays. Konica Minolta specifically highlighted DDR’s fit for thoracic imaging, allowing clinicians to view the entire respiratory cycle (observe chest wall, heart and lung motion), revealed that it is also exploring orthopedic spine and extremity applications. Although still pending FDA approval, DDR’s potential to expand the functionality of such a well-established technology (X-ray) is worth keeping an eye on.

 

A Local Solution to ED Imaging Overuse
Researchers from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that adopting site-specific appropriate use criteria (AUC) helps to avoid inappropriate imaging, following the implementation of their own AUC for emergency department CT imaging for renal colic patients (a condition that does not have solid evidence-based guidelines). After the AUC was adopted within BWH’s clinical decision-support, renal colic CT scans fell from 23.7% to 14.8% , suggesting that AUCs may be effective for reducing imaging overuse in EDs especially for issues without solid guidelines. This study has interesting parallels with a recent study on imaging overuse for epilepsy patients in EDs, as epilepsy also has insufficient national guidelines, and may similarly benefit from the adoption of local AUC criteria.

 

 

The Wire

 

  • Nuvolo announced new Clinical Enterprise Asset Management partnerships with GE Healthcare and PartsSource. The deals make GE Healthcare’s Service Shop portal (and parts) and PartsSource’s huge inventory of clinical parts available to clinical engineers through Nuvolo’s cloud-based platform, expanding clients access to GE parts and refurbished parts along with a suite of additional lifecycle management workflows and resources.

 

 

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