Rush University Medical Center selects Agfa HealthCare DR solutions for excellent image quality and improved delivery of patient care.

Agfa HealthCare announces today that it has signed an agreement with the Rush University Medical Center to supply three DX-D 600 and one DX-D 300 direct radiography (DR) solutions over the coming year. In a very competitive decision process, Agfa HealthCare showed particular strength in full leg/full spine (FLFS) imaging with it's EasyStitch technology, and in its customer focused approach. Rush University Medical Center's previous experience of with Agfa HealthCare's MUSICA image processing and workflow also played a role in the decision. The contract was signed earlier this year, and implementation has been underway. In 2016, Agfa HealthCare will also install a DX-D 600 DR system in an outpatient facility that is currently under construction by the medical center.

Rush University Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 664-bed academic medical center in Chicago affiliated with Rush University. It is nationally and internationally known for many specialties of care, areas of research and its new medical hospital building, the Tower. In 2015 U.S. News & World Report ranked Rush University Medical Center sixth in the nation for orthopedics, and among the top hospitals in the country for neurology and neurosurgery, geriatrics, gynecology, urology, cancer and nephrology.

Having implemented an Agfa HealthCare DX-D DR Retrofit in 2014, Rush University Medical Center decided to implement additional, new DR equipment. Four major suppliers were considered, and Agfa HealthCare was chosen. "After a very careful consideration of the solutions available on the market, we were pleased to select Agfa HealthCare as our supplier for our new DR equipment," saidBernard F. Peculis, MS, MBA, Director, Diagnostic Services for Rush University Medical Center. "Their Digital Radiography solutions offered us  leading edge image quality among the systems we reviewed and Agfa was flexible and creative in working with us to meet immediate and future needs."

Fully motorized for streamlined use
The hospital will implement both the DX-D 600 and DX-D 300. Combining user-friendly design with excellent image quality and dose efficiency in a high-productivity direct digital X-ray room, the fully automatic DX-D 600 offers the latest in auto-positioning technology. Fully-motorized and auto-positioning, it is ideal for facilities with a high patient load that are looking to streamline workflow to increase patient comfort.

The DX-D 300 with fully motorized U-arm offers a small size and floor-mounting that make it very easy and cost effective to install, in even a limited space. Yet it can handle a broad range of X-ray studies, including supine lateral examinations. This adaptability makes it ideal for use with all patients, even those less mobile, whether they are in sitting, standing or lying positions.

Automated image processing and potential dose reduction
Both solutions come with Agfa HealthCare's next generation MUSICA image processing. MUSICA is fully automatic, very easy to use and renders exquisite detail throughout the image, independent of the exam type.  In addition, MUSICA improves workflow because there is little or no need for manual post-processing for technologists or physicians as it provides consistent, high quality images with few retakes.The high quality Cesium Iodide detector technology combined with MUSICA processing also means potential dose reduction of up to 60%* for patients.

By reducing patient waiting times, allowing a potential dose reduction, and increasing diagnostic confidence, the DX-D 600 and DX-D 300 systems answer the need for enhancement of patient comfort and performance in the radiology department.

"We are proud to have been selected by Rush University Medical Center, and to continue to build our ongoing relationship with this prestigious healthcare provider," says Ueli Laupper, Director of DR Business, Agfa HealthCare North America . "This award is another proof statement that Agfa's DR portfolio is delivering unmatched clinical benefits by  taking productivity and workflow improvement, enhanced diagnostic confidence, excellent image quality, and, ultimately, optimized patient care to a new level."