Your Guide to Medical Imaging Equipment

When folks contact us to begin their inquiries into equipment for catheterization or angiography work, generally, the first question they ask is: "How much does digital cath lab equipment cost?" 

It's a big question, with some big variables at play but, to help those of you on the market begin to build some budget expectations, our cath lab experts have compiled current average pricing for five of the most popular digital cath lab models on the secondary market.

Have a model in mind? Click here to get a custom quote for your specific project.

When looking to purchase a cath lab for your office-based lab (OBL) facility there are a lot of considerations that come into play, but, first and foremost, is the system you choose to install. This can be one of the largest capital purchases for the facility, so it’s important to choose a system that will not only perform the needed studies, but also fit into your budgetary “sweet spot” to provide the best return on investment possible. With that in mind, how do we determine the best cath lab for your OBL?

In the cath lab world there are many peripheral items that can be used during catheterization to adapt a lab to the needs of hundreds of procedures. Today we’re going to focus on just one peripheral type, ultrasound devices; specifically IVUS and ICE. These devices have similar but distinct applications that can sometimes be easy to confuse. We'll clarify what each is and how it's used in conjunction with a cath lab below.

One question we're asked on a regular basis about interventional radiology equipment is, "What's the difference between a cath lab and an electrophysiology (EP) lab?" It’s a great question and, from a cursory look at the cath lab system being used, you wouldn’t notice a difference. Both cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs use the same, small-detector radiology system hardware- a GE Innova 2100 IQ or Philips Allura FD10, for instance. Still, there are significant differences between these two lab setups that require more than a brief glance to understand. We'll discuss these below.

EP, (electrophysiology) labs are where the "mad scientists" of the interventional cardiology world typically find themselves. And as with most mad scientists, they have a particular subset of equipment that they use to practice their craft. At the hub of an EP setup is a cath lab, an equipment type with many choices available. Because of this broad variety, this article is here to provide some guidance on choosing the right lab for EP work.