Today’s healthcare providers are challenged to ensure they have the latest CT technologies that will support confident diagnoses and lead to high-quality patient care . But they’re managing these demands while facing reduced capital for equipment purchases or upgrades, leading many providers to ask how they can keep pace with ever-evolving technology while preserving financial resources.
“I have to look to how to spend money in the right way. It's quite important to make good decisions to get the most advanced technology,” says Johan de Mey, MD, PhD, Chair of Radiology at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel in Belgium. As chair of the department and a member of the board of directors for the hospital, Pr. De Mey is tasked with planning capital expenditures for the entire radiology department.
That’s why the hospital installed GE Healthcare’s RevolutionTM Apex platform, an industry first CT solution offering onsite/in-field detector upgrades from a 40 mm detector CT system to 80 mm or 160 mm CT system without swapping the gantry. Offering uncompromised clinical capabilities, the new Revolution Apex platform helps radiology departments stay ahead of the technology curve with a modular and scalable platform that offers a seamless path to continuous scalability and upgradability1 that will take facilities into the future of CT.
“By having the Apex, we chose a platform that led us in a smooth evolution in technology, while helping us stay at the edge of technology,” says Pr. de Mey.
A modular platform for evolving needs
By adopting a scalable platform like the Revolution Apex platform, GE Healthcare is bringing a “future-ready” design philosophy to help facilities achieve success today and tomorrow. The Revolution Apex platform is a key step in providing customers a common look and feel across their portfolio to streamline the user experience through standardization.
It has a modular design that enables easy hardware scalability so radiology departments and healthcare facilities can add service lines to accommodate growing patient needs. This enables facilities to keep up with the latest technology while minimizing technology obsolescence, while optimizing clinical capabilities now and in the future.1 This also helps streamline fleet management, allowing facilities to minimize overall operating costs and address budget constraints.
“Having the ability to extend the life of a product through scalability would be huge benefit because then you forecast your replacement and limit the capital outlay for this equipment. How can you minimize your overall operating cost and extend the life of a product that we know is going to be very expensive? I think it’s a huge benefit for any organization to be able to scale up in ways that you can add components to the device,” says Luis Rios, director of imaging services for Baptist Hospital of Miami.
“You lose six months just by learning to use a new high-end machine. But if you have a machine that’s upgradable, you already know how to use it. You can immediately start doing exams on a higher level. If you're on the edge of research, this is huge. Being able to upgrade and work on the same platform and technology is much faster,” says Pr. De Mey.
The Revolution Apex platform is also built to seamlessly upgrade. After installation, facilities can stay ahead of evolving technological advancements with regular software upgrades that include new capabilities and workflow enhancements, as well as image quality, dose management, cybersecurity and service tools1 – all without learning a new user interface.
The latest technologies and components
The Revolution Apex platform was designed with a future-ready philosophy leveraging the best available technology for all components of the image chain.
The GemstoneTM Clarity detector works with the Quantix X-ray tube, the most powerful tube for whole-organ coverage ever made. It provides the power necessary to comfortably image all anatomies regardless of patient size, and it supports whole-organ imaging without compromising image noise or contrast-to-noise ratio.
“With the Apex platform, you can get the optimal image quality for every type of patient and every type of targets you want to scan for,” says Koenraad Nieboer, Head of Emergency Radiology at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel.
A key application of this technology is next-generation Gemstone Spectral Imaging, which reduces image noise in low energy monochromatic images to detect and assess small lesions. Dr. Nierboer says GSI is particularly helpful in identifying bowel ischemia. “It's a very difficult diagnosis for radiologists, but seeing less or no iodine in parts of the small bowel helps us have a more accurate and more confident diagnosis,” he explains.
In conjunction with the 160 mm whole organ coverage detector, the Revolution Apex Elite can easily do 1-beat cardiac imaging without any limitation of heart rate and rhythm, even for patients with atrial fibrillation. This speed has helped Baptist Hospital of Miami more efficiently diagnose and treat cardiac patients. Prior to installing Revolution Apex Elite, cardiac patients had to wait overnight because the hospital didn't have the technology to perform certain cardiac exams, which increased the length of stay and costs.
“The Revolution Apex has solved a lot of challenges that we were facing prior to its installation, including lowering the length of stay for patients who required cardiac imaging. Not only were we able to provide more timely service, our overall cost of care for these patients was lowered,” says Rios.
Staying Ahead of the Technology Curve
The Revolution Apex platform produces CT images with the high quality at the lowest possible radiation dose through TrueFidelity deep learning image reconstruction. TrueFidelity is designed to be the industry-first image reconstruction technology that uses a dedicated Deep Neural Network to generate high-definition, low-noise CT Images.
“TrueFidelity cleans noise pixel-by-pixel, and we've noticed a standard deviation decrease of up to 50%, making images crystal clear with less radiation. With the Apex platform, we've reduced contrast dosing by 33%,” says William Gilmour, CT Lead Technologist for Baptist Health in Miami.
The Revolution Apex platform was also developed with Effortless Workflow, which utilizes Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to automate nearly every step from pre-scan to post-scan, to help reduce clicks, save time, and achieve exceptional efficiency and consistency in imaging.
With these capabilities, the Revolution Apex platform helps future-proof2 facilities’ CT investment with technology that will put them ahead of the technology curve now – and keep them there tomorrow.
“I'm a fan of the new Apex system and all the possibilities around it. For us, it's a big win,” says Pr. de Mey.
“To keep up with the challenges of the imaging world, you need to have the latest and greatest technology. So, it's a good thing we have a relationship with GE Healthcare. Now with the Apex, we are pushing the envelope,” says Gilmour.
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- Scalability and upgradability are subject to the availability and compatibility of new capabilities and products.
- Future proof concerning the dependency on availability of future upgrades and capabilities.
