Your Guide to Medical Imaging Equipment

If you've owned or operated an MRI machine for even just a few years of the last decade, you know that the cost per liter of the liquid helium used to cool your magnet has risen, year-over-year, to record high levels. And, if you've seen the invoice for a helium fill from your gas provider, you know it's a tough pill to swallow. So what's to be done? Do we "grin and bear it" until prices (hopefully) come down? That's one way to handle it. Or, you could take some proactive steps to mitigate helium costs now.

Below, we'll share why the shortage is likely to continue, and how finding the right helium partner can lead to considerable savings and improved sustainability for your MRI services.

So, you're running your GE CT and you start hearing a rattle, a jitter, or a knock. It never made that sound before, and you're pretty sure it shouldn't make that sound at all. Why is it doing that?

With so many moving parts, there are a few things that can create a similar sound inside the gantry of a GE CT scanner, however, one of the most common for is the axial encoder. Keep reading to learn what you should do to solve the problem.

If you use a Vieworks DR panel with VXvue software, you know how easy it is to capture and store images. But what do you do when you hit your workstation's maximum image capacity? Fortunately, VXvue offers options to delete studies automatically and manually. We'll show you how to do both in the pictorial guide below.

And if you're wondering what to do when you hit the 100-image capacity on your Vieworks panel, we have a guide for that too.

Welcome! And thank you for joining us in our second segment of the colossally popular “Contract Exclusions” series! We knew that everyone who read part one, MRI Contract Exclusions, would be chomping at the proverbial bit to see what we'd share about CT contracts.

Now, before we get started explaining what you can expect to not be covered in a standard 3^rd-party CT service contract, I should warn you: if you also read part one, some of this will sound VERY familiar, but we figured if the MRI shoe fits, the CT can wear it! Here goes:

We often talk about the ease of finding engineering and third-party parts support for GE CT scanners like the Lightspeed, Brightspeed, and VCT. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we've also discussed the “premium”, late-model scanners that just haven’t hit the market with enough consistency (like the Siemens Definition Force or GE Revolution EVO) to make third-party service and parts viable for a few more years. On that latter end of the spectrum, there are also some systems that, unless something big changes soon, are unlikely to ever come out from under the yoke of OEM service. 

If you're hoping to purchase a CT and save on service and parts by working with an independent service organization (ISO) and third-party parts suppliers, the following are three systems you may want to avoid. Please note that none of these remarks are a commentary on the quality of a system, but rather the access owners have to parts and affordable support for it.