Even here in the digital age there are a number of scenarios where the purchase of an analog cath/angio system may still be the best choice. Among the most common analog systems available on the used and refurbished cath lab market is the GE LC Series of analog cath labs.

So you're ready to take the digital cath lab plunge, eh? Excellent! And as you began making this decision, we're willing to bet the first (or maybe second) question to cross your mind was: "How much does digital cath lab equipment cost?" 

Rigging in cath lab equipment takes a whole team of people and some serious machine power. Check out this video from a successful GE cath lab rig-in to see one example:

Are you in need of some help with cath lab equipment planning? If so, this is the perfect "best of" list for your easy reference. Scroll on for the best articles to help you compare, decide and successfully plan your next interventional suite.

 Proper room size for a GE cath lab is a topic of frequent discussion here in the Block Imaging project management department. We’ve been asked so many times that several of us got the dimensions tattooed on our forearms for quick reference. Later, in a deep fit of tattoo regret, we decided it would have been a better idea to post them right on our website.
 

If you’re considering a GE cath lab, you’ll want to check that the size of your planned OR meets or exceeds the OEM recommendations in the table below:
 

Sorting through the GE cath lab product line for the best system to meet your hospital or imaging center’s needs can involve a great deal of research and communication. If you’ve managed to narrow the field to “the one”, congratulations! But now is hardly the time to rest on your laurels. Planning for cath lab equipment installation takes longer than you might think.  A host of cabinets, workstations, tables, and arms will eventually be on their way to your facility and, in truth, the decision-making has only just begun. The next choices you make will help balance both optimum workflow and a logical cath lab networking layout for your OR.

When our sales staff talks to cath lab customers about “refurbished cath labs” the ambiguity of the phrase frequently comes to light. There are a number of imaging equipment vendors who offer refurbished systems, but many of them don’t really discuss what they do when they refurbish a cath lab.

People refer to interventional equipment inspections frequently in our industry but seldom identify what a thorough inspection looks like. To pull back the curtain on the process, we’ve compiled the major steps our engineering team takes when they conduct an inspection of a cath lab. There are quite a number of other steps in our 4-5 hour process as well but, in the essence of time, we’ll be focusing on the larger elements.

Have you ever sat in a meeting or convention and felt like you were listening in on a texting conversation between two 14 year-old girls?  Sure, every field has their acronyms and shortened verbiage, but is it really more efficient if you have to run back to your office after the meeting to Google what HICCUP stands for and why there’s not two O’s in SMOG when it clearly stands for the School of Mathmagitional Occupologication Orbits and Geographonomy? 

We’re here to help.  No more nodding along at who, when, and where that convention is or wondering when subtraction could be “digital”!  Over the next few weeks, we’ll be breaking down common acronyms and phrases within the imaging segment.  

As always, if you know of a toughie that stumped you for your first 15 years in imaging, please let us know and we’ll include it so others can learn and be able to throw their hands in the air like front-row kindergartners any time it gets brought up. 

The Axiom Artis is one of the latest product lines from Siemens in the interventional radiology category. One of the first things you’ll notice as you begin to look for information on the Axiom Artis is just how many flavors it comes in: floor- mounted vs. ceiling-mounted vs. a combination of both, image intensifiers vs. detectors.  On top of that, there are numerous software configurations which will determine the kinds of studies each system is equipped to accommodate.