Ing Juergen Heckel, VP, Medical Business Sales and Marketing, EIZO Corporation, elaborates on understanding the differences in quality and risk of medical imaging diagnostics
The medical imaging diagnostic workflow is moving digital throughout India. Nowadays, doctors have to diagnose patients using a Picture Archive Communication System (PACS) viewer which displays medical images on an LCD monitor, either in the hospital or at home through tele-radiology. They must rely on the quality of their equipment without accepting any compromises.
In radiology, it is incredibly important to accurately detect breast and lung cancer during the early stages in order to save a patient’s life. Early detection is a big challenge for all radiologists so it’s important that radiologists are provided with medical-grade monitors that are accurate enough to allow for early detection. On a medical-grade monitor, radiologists should expect to see images the same as or even better than physical films or CRT monitors showed in the past; providing all the tools required for accurate and early disease detection.
To ensure the consistency of all medical devices, the DICOM standard (described in Part 14) was developed to define the greyscale levels of medical-grade monitors according to the Grey Scale Display Function (GSDF). Medical-grade monitors are able to be calibrated according to this standard in order to display a smooth greyscale. Commerical off-the-shelf (COTS) monitors cannot be calibrated and as such are not able to offer the consistency that medical-grade monitors offer. Without these features, early-stage cancers may be missed and patients may suffer as a consequence.
There are many other technical parameters that distinguish medical-grade monitors from non-medical-grade ones such as brightness, contrast, a non-reflective surface, pixel pitch, uniformity, panel technology, integrated stabilisation and calibration sensors. Such tools are important for keeping image quality consistent, which significantly differs from COTS monitors.
The European CE label for medical monitors (conformity declaration) classifies medical devices into separate classes following the global standards Medical Device Regulation (MDR) and Medical Device Directive (MDD) – USA uses the FDA510K certification according to AAPM TG18 standards and guidelines to show medical device approval. From a safety, accuracy and legal aspect, only certified medical-grade monitors should be used to avoid risks in misreading patient images.
EIZO, as a visual technology solution provider, offers a wide range of medical-grade monitors in greyscale and colour as well as quality control solutions.
(Ing Juergen Heckel is VP, Medical Business Sales and Marketing for EIZO Corporation. He joined EIZO in 1994, and became EMEA business development manager in 2001, working predominantly with medical display solutions. He has given multiple educational seminars around the world to teach the importance of quality control according to international QA guidelines and is an active workgroup member of global standardisations like IEC SC62B and AAPM TG196, TG260 and TG270. He is also an IEC-certified medical device advisor)
Contact Details:
Anantha Narayanan
EIZO Corporation
J 12 SJH SQT
Kidwai Nagar West
New Delhi – 110023
Mob: 9999712089
Email: [email protected]
- Advertisement -
Comments are closed.