Ideal for veterinarians in the field, the DX-D 45C detector and CR 15-X digitizer support the Tour’s commitment to the welfare of the competing horses
- The wireless DX-D 45C** with Automatic Exposure Detection (AED) is compact, easy to work with and flexible.
- The tabletop CR 15-X digitizer has a modular yet robust design, ideal for in-field veterinary work.
- On 11 September Agfa HealthCare sponsored an event for the press in Rome, Italy, on equine health and welfare, including a visit to the Tour's Mobile Horse Vet Clinic.
Agfa HealthCare announces that for the second year in a row, it is the Technical Sponsor of the Mobile Horse Vet Clinic for the annual Longines Global Champions Tour 2015 showjumping series, which this year is bringing the Top 30 ranked show jumpers in the world together at 15 events across 13 countries. As part of this sponsorship, Agfa HealthCare's DX-D 45C direct radiography (DR) detector and CR 15-X digitizer are being used by the "Horse Ambulance Group" to screen and care for the horses participating in the Tour.
At prestigious event, animal welfare is key
The Longines Global Champions Tour is an annual event, which is running this year from April through November 2015. Several new venues have been added, including Miami Beach, USA, and Rome, Italy. The event is televised on international and local networks, reaching a target audience of millions of spectators globally.
At all the destinations, the health and welfare of the competing horses is the main priority. A unique mobile veterinary clinic initiative provides top-class care facilities for all horses participating in the Championship series. It is available on-site, 24 hours a day, for the duration of the event. The truck, which travels to each event of the Tour, is well equipped thanks to the support of companies such as Agfa HealthCare, and features state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapy machines.
Robust, compact and mobile image quality
In 2015, for the second year in a row, Agfa HealthCare is the Technical Sponsor of the mobile clinic, which includes a CR 15-X computed radiography (CR) system and DX-D 45C digital detector. All participating horses need to be screened before the start of each event and the Agfa HealthCare equipment is being used for any X-ray screening.
The tabletop CR 15-X digitizer has a modular yet robust design offering high image quality, adjustable speed and a user-tuned workflow. Optional needle-based detector plates (NIP) can allow improved image quality with less radiation dose.
The wireless DX-D 45C with Automatic Exposure Detection (AED) brings a DR workflow to the Tour. Compact, easy to work with and flexible, it is ideal for equine vets in the field. It offers wireless image transmission; efficient, fast workflow; improved exam speed; and excellent image quality. It comes with a notebook featuring NX workstation software and dedicated MUSICA for Large Animals image processing software.
The NX workstation optimizes workflow, with very fast image acquisition and an intuitive user interface that is the same for CR and DR, while MUSICA automatically analyzes the characteristics of each raw image and optimizes the processing parameters, independent of body part or dose deviation.
Potential dose reduction and enhanced efficiency
For the occasion of the Rome, Italy leg of the Tour, Agfa HealthCare sponsored a major press event on 11 September at the Salone d’Onore, Palazzo del CONI. The activities started with a conference/workshop on “The horse athlete. The globalization of Welfare” with an impressive list of VIPs attending, including veterinarians, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Health, veterinary associations and the press. Afterwards, Agfa HealthCare’s Dirk De Langhe (Solution Development Manager) and Paola Oriana Di Salvia (Product & Business Development) presented on the Agfa HealthCare solutions, including the DX-D 45, which comes in both Cesium Iodide (CsI) and Gadolinium Oxy-Sulphide (GOS) versions, and showed how the CsI version is being proven in the field at the Tour. Among the advantages of DR they highlighted were the potential radiation dose reduction for the animals when using Csl detectors and MUSICA processing of up to 60% compared to conventional phosphor imaging plates (PIP)*, the time savings of as much as eight minutes for every exam, the increased efficiency and the excellent image quality, all from a compact, mobile solution.
Finally, the participants accompanied the Agfa HealthCare representatives to the mobile clinic to seeon-site the solutions, the quality of the images and the DR workflow. Veterinarian Alessandro Centinaio, the owner of the ambulance, performed a demo of both the DX-D 45C and the CR 15-X.
“We are extremely pleased to once again play our role at this prestigious events,” says Paola Oriana Di Salvia of Agfa HealthCare. “The Longines Global Champions Tour is a wonderful venue for us to demonstrate how our high-quality, mobile solutions meet the specific needs of veterinarians in the field, bringing DR and CR quality and workflows wherever they are needed.”
References:
*Testing with board certified Radiologists has determined that Cesium Bromide (CR) and Cesium Iodide (DR) Detectors when used with MUSICA processing can provide dose reductions between 50 to 60% when compared to traditional Barium Fluoro Bromide CR systems. Contact Agfa HealthCare for more details.
** DX-D 45C is not available in Canada
Source & Image Credit: Agfa HealthCare
