Webinar Wednesday recently hosted the session “An Introduction to Computed Tomography” presented by AllParts Medical (a Philips company) Multi-Vendor Modality Manager James Freeman. It was eligible for 1 credit from the ACI.
During the webinar, Freeman provided an introduction to computed tomography and the cost to service CT products. He shared a description of computed tomography and discussed functionality and system components. He also talked about CT advantages over traditional radiology, provided a system overview and explained how images are made. Freeman went on to discuss common issues for CT systems, cost to service and elements to consider. Freeman also shared information about how CT tubes enable new service offerings by ISO, liquid bearing technology and the new Dunlee DA200P40+LMB CT tube and CT support at AllParts Medical.
Freeman shared additional insights during an informative question-and-answer session where attendees submitted questions.
One attendee asked, “Other than not using it, is there anything users can do to extend the life of their tube?”
Freeman said it depends on how the device is used.
“They’re just things that happen with tubes, right? It’s all dependent on how the customer uses them. This becomes a challenge. Every site is a little unique. We’ve seen sites where they do trauma ER scanning and those tubes seem to last a very long time. But then other sites that are low usage actually consume X-ray tubes sooner. Part of it has to do with thermal cycling. If we get a tube up to a certain temperature and it operates at that temperature consistently all day long, how many thermal cycles has it that endured? Realistically, not a lot. It’s gotten hotter and colder as being used, but there’s a lot of cooling capability in the gantry as well. It tries to dissipate that heat as much as possible, whereas if you scan a couple of patients and then the tube cools down and then you scan a few more patients and it warms up or go into deep thermal cycling. So, it used to be when we had just conventional bulbs instead of LED bulbs, when would light bulb fail? Sometimes it was just when we were turning it on. That current would rush through the tube and would actually cause the filament failure.”
“Thermal cycling typically is the biggest challenge with extending tube life,” he added.
Approximately 100 attendees tuned in for the live presentation. A record of the webinar is available for on-demand viewing.
Attendees shared feedback via a survey that included the question, “Why did you attend today’s webinar? And, was it worth your time?”
“I’m a biomedical service engineer focusing on radiology. I’m looking forward to working on CT installation, repair and maintenance in the near future either with GE, Siemens or Philips, etc. The webinar was worthy of my time,” Field Service Engineer C. Bendian said.
“Professionally and personally study imaging. Was worth my time,” Engineering Consultant S. Alexander said.
“I attended because it was relevant to my specialty in CT as a biomedical equipment technician,” Sergeant First Class C. Jaggers said.
For more information about upcoming webinars and recordings of previous webinars, visit WebinarWednesay.Live.