Scatter radiation represents a significant risk to interventional endoscopists and their staff. The IAEA reports that the major source of exposure to medical staff is radiation scattering as it contacts the patient. With that risk comes the question – is there additional radiation protection available beyond protective clothing and ALARA best practices?
The risks of radiation exposure are well documented. Doctors and hospitals follow the best practices of ALARA – As Low As Reasonably Achievable – but is that enough? Is there more protection available beyond the traditional time, distance, and shielding guidelines of ALARA?
For Omega, there is also technology. Omega has long recognized the benefits of lead shielding and incorporates that technology into its E-View.AI image-guided endoscopy system. Omega’s unique 360° lead shielding protection covers not only the flat panel image detector but provides protection below the table as well. The E-View.AI also uses a motorized variable source-to-image (SID) that can be lowered towards the patient. These technologies combine to reduce scatter radiation risk as well as enhance image quality.
In a 2015 study, the Center for Interventional Endoscopy (CIE) at AdventHealth Orlando compared the fixed E-View system with its incorporated lead shielding to a mobile C-arm. The results of their study showed that radiation exposure was significantly lower using the Omega system, by up to ~81%, compared to a mobile C-arm.
But with Omega, technology means even more than the proven protection of their lead shielding. In 2019, Omega took the idea of radiation protection to a whole new level with the introduction of FluoroShieldTM. This advanced AI-enabled technology created a new modality in interventional imaging by reducing dose by up to an additional ~84%. Omega achieves this level of radiation protection without any change in existing workflow or sacrificing image quality.
A 2020 study posted in the American Journal of Gastroenterology showed that the use of an Artificial Intelligence-controlled ROI (Region of Interest) significantly reduces radiation exposure to patients and scatter radiation to endoscopy personnel. Scatter radiation was ~59% less using the Omega AI system compared to a conventional, non-AI, fluoroscopy system.
Is there additional radiation protection available beyond protective clothing and ALARA best practices? Clearly, the answer is yes.
A unique lead shielding system incorporated into your interventional lab can make a marked difference in reducing scatter radiation. That’s important for the safety of medical staff, but what about the patient? The exclusive AI technology built into Omega systems takes radiation safety to another level and reduces radiation exposure to everyone in the lab – physicians, staff, and patients.
The interventional X-ray systems designed and built by Omega provide an automatic, hands-free solution to radiation protection – delivering the benefit of consistent and repeatable radiation reduction to patients and to staff beyond anything else in use today.
Omega systems allow physicians and hospitals to provide the best care and radiation protection to their patients as well as to their staff – improving the radiation safety of everyone involved.
Omega breaks away from traditional systems with innovative technology – technology that no one else has. As the only company in the world to offer this technology, Omega has created a new standard of radiation safety and imaging excellence – a new standard of care.
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