As you may know, Digital Radiology can include many definitions. Since I have limited space to comment, I am going to provide some general information and when you want additional details we shall be glad to enhance this discussion. There are basically two branches of "Digital Radiology". There is Direct Radiology (DR), where an image is digitized in real time with a sensor that replaces a bucky or grid cabinet. DR is relatively more expensive than CR and is considered the "cutting edge". It is mainly in some human hospitals and a few very large clinics and is generally sold direct by the "big players" such as GE, Toshiba, Cannon, Fuji, Siemens, and Philips. Some independents are licensing the DR arrays to incorporate into their digital solution.   To date, DR has been the most expensive approach to digital, but it is also the fastest.  Included in DR is CCD, or "charge coupled devices".  CCD uses a camera to digitally photo an image array. CCD offers the speed of direct DR, but is considerably less expensive.  This approach is now being adapted to retrofit many veterinary x-ray machines such as the Innovet and Vet Tech.  The second branch of "Digital Radiology" is Computed Radiology (CR). CR has been around for a number of years and is rock solid technology.  And that is the reason you need to consider CR;  economical and dependable performance.  Fuji is a major player in our CR market.  CR can generally be used with any x-ray system.   More good news. Konica Minolta has had a very popular human CR product that is now adapted for veterinary use (as has Fuji).  The Konica Nano offers an acquisition and workstation built into one compact unit, designed for veterinary use.  The more competition, the more competitive the pricing and that is indeed good news for the veterinary community.

Once the x-ray information is generated in digital format you can then do what you like with it...send it to a workstation, to a storage device, save in various formats and email or burn to a CD or DVD. It is important that the system you select be DICOM (Digital Communication in Medicine). All of the systems we offer are DICOM.  You could also send it to your friendly radiologist, anywhere in the world over the internet for consultation, etc.

Please note that all CR systems require special PSP cassettes.  These cassettes are also more expensive than conventional screens and cassettes; however you probably do not require as many.  When the cassette is "read" in the reader, the cassette is erased and returned ready to use again.  Lease or lease/purchase would be an excellent method for financing this equipment. Call us if you would like additional information on these products.  CR will work with most x-ray machines without significant modifications, however a 178 line grid may be a desirable upgrade.

All of our digital systems include workstations with the necessary hardware and software to perform digital radiology.  A high resolution monitor is included with the workstation.  Higher quality monitors are available; however the cost may not be justified.  You will be amazed at the image quality available on the workstation.  The packages we are offering include complete workstations, with PCs and software included.  No doubt prices will continue to fall with digital radiology, as with computers, or at least you will get expanded capability for the same as a previous cost.