A new digital X-ray technology being studied at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and to be unveiled next week, has the potential to replace the current film X-ray technology, while reducing health care costs and improving patient care, says Gary S. Shaber, M.D., research professor of Radiology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and director, Division of General Diagnostic Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia.
Dr. Shaber has spent more than a year extensively studying the DirectRay digital radiography technology designed by Sterling Diagnostic Imaging of Newark, Del. DirectRay, which is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will be formally unveiled Sunday, Nov. 30, at the 83rd Scientific Assembly and Annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America meeting (RSNA) in Chicago.
Dr. Shaber will also be presenting two major papers on the technology at the meeting on Sunday, Nov. 30 and Monday, Dec. 1.
Dr. Shaber, who has been the primary investigator of the technology, said the images produced by digital radiography are equivalent to those produced by film-based radiography. The technology has also been studied at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio.
“I think digital radiography has tremendous potential,” said Dr. Shaber. “In my opinion, it is the wave of the future.”
Currently, an estimated 70 percent of all diagnostic exams are performed using conventional film-based radiography because of its functionality and high image quality.
Film-based systems, however, can be indirect because
fluorescent materials must first absorb the X-ray energy and
convert it into light during the exposure process, Dr. Shaber
explained. Then the light must be converted to electronic
signals. During thi
'"/>
Contact: Jeffrey Adam Baxt
Jeffrey.A.Baxt@mail.tju.edu
215-955-6300
Thomas Jefferson University
28-Nov-1997