Whats New in Radiology?

Highlights of the
RSNA 2015 Annual Meeting
By Cynthia Hayward
Originally printed in the
SpaceMed Newsletter
Winter 2016
www.spacemed.com

BACKGROUND
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in late November 2015 is the premier scientific and educational meeting that brings together radiologists, oncologists, physicists, radiological technologists, and allied healthcare
professionals from around the world. This meeting used to be dominated by "heavy
metal" with flashy introductions of new imaging modalities. Today, there is more
emphasis on smaller, light-weight, mobile, and more versatile equipment, along
with new software enhancements for existing equipment to provide better clinical
data and workflow productivity.
SPECIFIC EQUIPMENT TRENDS
Some specific trends related to imaging equipment include:
Smaller equipment footprint. Vendors continue their shift toward reducing the
footprint of imaging equipment used in the hospital setting. For years, ultrasound
vendors have been creating more compact, portable equipment that still maintains
high image quality, but now general radiology vendors are following suit. These
changes also help bring down the price of the systems considerably. Some
examples include:

GE has a new 3T MRI system called SIGNA Pioneer that allows hospitals to
upgrade from a 1.5T without sacrificing valuable real estate in the hospital.

For PET/CT, Siemens showcased Biograph Horizon PET/CT which offers a

smaller footprint and lower cost. Siemens accomplished this by removing the
chiller and offering an air-cooled system along with a low electric circuit.

General radiography vendors are now offering nonpremium (and lower cost)
solutions with fixed floor-mounted X-ray systems with a smaller footprint that do
not require ceiling infrastructure or added support.

Additionally, vendors such as Del Medical and Shimadzu are able to place the
generator cabinet within the patient table freeing up space within the room.

Toshiba introduced the industrys smallest tilting C-arm multipurpose system

available. This unit installs adjacent a back wall to improve patient access and
allow for more complex procedures such as providing routine angiography
capabilities within an existing radiology/fluoroscopy procedure room.

Imaging options for remote locations. As hospitals continue to merge and consolidate, there is a growing population that does not have regular access to
healthcare. For ultrasound, vendors are creating systems that are battery operated,
highly portable, and easy to use. This allows nontraditional healthcare workers to
send images they acquire from this equipment to remote clinicians for review. Vendors are also offering portable, small-scale X-ray systems that can be used for
home health visits in conjunction with telemedicine.

2016.9.1

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Whats New in
Radiology? Highlights
From the RSNA 2015
Annual Meeting
Continued

OTHER GENERAL TRENDS

Some other general trends related to imaging include.
Software enhancements for existing equipment. For example, new MRI
software was introduced this year to enable faster and more efficient cardiac and
lung exams. Advancements in ultrasound and CT software were also prevalent.
Enterprise imaging takes off. A major overarching trend is the rise of enterprise
imaging and the movement away from disparate picture archiving and
communication systems (PACS). This movement has gained a lot of momentum
due to healthcare reform and the need for centralized repositories for patient data
and images referred to as vendor-neutral archives (VNAs) that enable greater
access to the data.
3-D printing. Over the course of just a year, 3-D models based on CT, MRI, and
sometimes ultrasound scans have outgrown their limited role in surgical planning to
become an indispensable tool in almost every imaginable application. New 3-D
printers for the myriad applications including otolaryngology, congenital heart
disease, vascular surgery, and interventional cardiology come equipped with
different kinds of plastics suitable for creating everything from implantable heart
valves to specialty prosthetics.
New role for radiologists. Radiologists are being told to "add value" to the
healthcare experience by interacting more with patients. This is not a role that most
radiologists are comfortable with and imaging departments are not typically
equipped with space for patient and family consultation.
Cynthia Hayward, AIA, is founder and principal of Hayward & Associates LLC in
Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.hayward-assoc.com).

2016.9.1

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