Digital radiography

Differences in imaging methods on the example of the brain

Advantages

The main advantages of digital radiography over traditional radiography are:

• high quality of X-ray image, possibility of its digital processing and identification of important details;
• possibility to reduce radiation dose;
• simplicity and speed of image acquisition, which becomes available for analysis immediately after the end of exposure;
• storing information in digitized form makes it possible to create easily accessible and mobile X-ray archives, transmit information at any distance over a computer network;
• lower cost of digital radiography, as well as its environmental safety compared to the traditional one: the need for expensive film and reagents, equipping a photographic laboratory and a "poisonous" development process is eliminated;
• faster obtaining of results makes it possible to increase throughput capacity of X-ray offices;
• High quality images with the ability to back them up eliminates the need for repeated procedures with additional patient exposure.

With all of the above advantages, digital radiography has one significant drawback - the high cost of equipment compared to analog X-ray equipment.

2021: Nanox.ARC Digital X-Ray System Announced

In early April 2021, Israel, startup Nanox inspired by the science fiction series Star Trek, released a futuristic design digital X-ray machine. More. here

2020

Announcement of DRX-L detector for long X-rays

In mid-August 2020, Carestream Health introduced a new detector for digital radiography. A device called DRX-L will allow you to receive images of long length. Read more here.

Moscow begins to purchase digital X-ray machines instead of fluorographs

On June 10, 2020, it became known that Moscow it was starting to purchase digital X-ray machines instead of fluorographs. This was announced health care Moscow by Sergey Morozov, chief freelance specialist in radiation and instrumental diagnostics of the department , as part of the online conference "Radiation Diagnostics of Moscow: 2019 − 2020." here More.

2019: Carestream unveils cheap digital X-ray receiver

At the end of November 2019, at the RSNA conference, Carestream presented a cheap digital X-ray receiver - the new Focus 35C detector with Image Suite software. Read more here.

2016: Portable Systems Market Size $7 Billion

In March 2017, the analytical company Future Market Insights presented the results of a study of the global market for portable digital radiographic systems. They account for more than 90% of sales of digital equipment for radiation diagnostics.

According to experts, in 2016, sales of digital X-ray devices amounted to $7.67 billion. About 91.5% of revenue ($7 billion) came from portable solutions. The volume of this segment will grow by 7.1% per year in the period up to 2026, the researchers predict.

Siemens Ysio Max digital X-ray machine

This rise in Future Market Insights is associated with an increase in the share of the elderly population on the planet and an increase in the number of orthopedic diseases and bone injuries. By March 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the global prevalence of arthritis to be between 0.3% and 1%.

Among the factors that negatively affect the market for portable digital radiographic systems, analysts include the high cost of clinical trials, strict regulatory rules, the lack of adequate medical imaging infrastructure in developing countries and the high cost of initial installation and configuration of equipment in hospitals.

Roughly a third of global sales of digital radiography handheld devices in 2016 came from North America. The region is expected to remain the largest on the market as there is a growing demand for medical imaging in orthopedics and chest X-ray, the study said.

According to analysts, the following companies are the largest manufacturers of portable digital radiographic systems in 2016^[1]

• GE Healthcare;
• Siemens Healthcare;
• Esaote;
• Hitachi;
• Philips Healthcare;
• Planmed;
• EOS Imaging;
• Toshiba Medical Corporation.

2015: Market Size $6.15 Billion

In February 2016, MarketsandMarkets analysts made a forecast according to which by 2020 the volume of the digital radiographic systems market will reach $10.46 billion against $6.15 billion in 2015. During this period, the average annual growth in sales of this equipment will be 11.2%. The greatest lift will be demonstrated by the chest imaging solutions segment due to the increasing number of lung cases.^[2]

In 2014, MarketsandMarkets predicted that in the period 2013-2018. the global market for digital radiographic systems will be able to increase by 13% per year and reach $8.7 billion by the end of this time period against $4.7 billion in 2013.

Analysts expect the digital radiography market to grow at an annual rate of 11% between 2015 and 2020

Technological advances, public investment, as well as the fact that the population as a whole is aging, contribute to an increase in demand for such equipment, experts noted.^[3]

Notes