Cassetteless digital x-ray systems

Cassetteless digital x-ray (DX) systems combine film-quality images and fast patient throughput. Because they are expensive, they need to be versatile enough to perform most or all radiographic projections. To meet this challenge, DX manufacturers have developed a variety of imaging detectors and gantry configurations. This presents facilities with an array of choices. In this Evaluation, we examine cassetteless DX systems from six suppliers: Canon, Fujifilm, Imaging Dynamics, Kodak, Siemens, and Swissray. We compare them with the three systems--from Del Medical, GE, and Philips--that we evaluated in our November 2001 issue. Our testing examines the ability of these systems to provide at least the same amount of diagnostic information as conventional screen-film systems while significantly increasing the overall efficiency of the radiology department. Each system provides a slightly different trade-off between image quality and usability. We rate three systems Preferred due to their excellent image quality, good ease of use, and the wide range of exams they can provide using a single detector. The remaining six devices are all rated Acceptable, although one of them is ranked slightly superior to the other five.