Your Guide to Medical Imaging Equipment

Replacing a CT scanner's X-ray tube is an eventuality for any facility that uses the technology- an eventuality that doesn't always happen according to typical lifespan expectations, and doesn't always happen at your budgetary "high tide". Because of this fact, it pays to be aware of the options you have to replace your CT tube for less.

To help you know what to expect when you need to replace your CT tube, we've compiled current price averages for some of the most popular CT tubes in use right now, including low to moderate use used tubes, new after-market tubes (where applicable), and- for comparison's sake- brand-new OEM tubes.

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If your digital mammo machine's X-ray tube is on its way out or, perhaps, has already failed, you should know that contacting the original manufacturer for a replacement is just one of the sourcing options available to you. It is also, in the majority of scenarios, the most expensive one.

Below you'll find current average prices for X-ray tubes from the most popular digital mammography systems. Pricing for both new OEM and after-market tubes and used tubes from independent parts providers is included.

For those of you who have purchased a used imaging part, or at least compared the cost of a used part to the list price of a new part, the following isn't really news to you. But for those who haven't yet had the used parts experience, we want to be clear: The secondary parts market is a good place to save significant money on the overall maintenance of your imaging equipment.

While there are substantial dollars to be saved, however, sometimes the secondary market isn't the most efficient place to order parts. This is why there's now a faster way to order used imaging parts so that you can not only save money, but also some time and frustration along the way.

The following are a few advantages that can come with ordering parts online through ecommerce. The more of these features a parts provider can offer on their site, the quicker and more convenient your experience can be.

The X-ray handswitch and footswitch on your OEC 9800 are subject to a lot of wear and tear: being dropped, getting stomped on, having their cables run over. There's a pretty good chance that, over the lifetime of your C-arm, you'll have a malfunction from one or the other.

Some of these problems can be diagnosed and repaired. Others, might simply require a total replacement. The video below will give you a brief overview of what proper functionality looks like, what some common problems with hand/footswitches are, and where you should look to find the causes of these problems.

For the GE XRD (or any X-ray room, for that matter), proper collimator function is important not just for optimum image quality, but also for controlling radiation dose for patients and practitioners alike. Collimators generally last a long while, but degradation and eventual failure are still possibilities that any facility using X-ray equipment needs to be prepared to respond to.

Whether your XRD collimator is on the fritz right now or you simply like to stay informed and think ahead, the following information will help you build your cost expectations, know what problems to look for, and help ensure that the installation of a replacement collimator goes smoothly.

Your Philips Brilliance 16 or MX8000 IDT 16 CT scanner depends on its 42 detector modules (part #4550-120-01081) to provide crisp, clear, artifact-free images. If your image quality is starting to suffer, the modules are a reasonable suspect and some of them may need to be replaced. Of course, once you know that, the next things you begin to wonder are how often can you expect this to happen, and how much can you expect to spend?

Read on for the typical life expectancy we've seen from our Philips CT customers around the world as well as the current average prices we're seeing in the market.

Every MRI scanner depends on its radio frequency power amplifier (RFPA) to provide proper electrical current to the system. If you use a Siemens Symphony MRI, your RFPA is the E6 Dora (part #4753062)- a part that it shares in common with the Siemens Harmony.

Like many components in many different types of imaging equipment, the RFPA is subject to significant stress from its level of output. As a result, RFPA failures can happen suddenly and without much warning. We've already written about some reasons why your E6 Dora might fail, but what we want to share with you today is about how long (in the experience of our parts customers around the world) the typical Dora RFPA lasts and about how much (according to our recent market experience) you can expect to pay to replace one.

As is the case with all equipment that uses X-ray technology, the X-ray tube on the GE Essential digital mammography system will require replacement periodically over the course of its life. If you're a veteran to the imaging world, this is a reality you're probably all too familiar with.

As you begin what is, hopefully, a long and fruitful relationship with your GE Essential, it'll be helpful for you to know how long you can expect your X-ray tube to last as well as how much you can expect to spend when the time comes to replace it. To that end, we've compiled the details below based on the experiences of our engineering team and our service customers, as well as current pricing on the parts market.

The Copley 274 gradient amplifier is used with the Philips Intera 1.5T MRI scanner. Inside the gradient cabinet are three parts that most Intera users will find themselves replacing at one point or another.

• Gradient Module
• Gradient power supply
• Gradient controller

If you're reading this and you have an Intera, I'd be willing to bet a modest sum of American dollars (or, perhaps, Malaysian Ringgits) the next two questions you have are: "How often do I need to replace these?" AND "How much will it cost?"

Read on to find out just what you can expect from your Copley gradient components.