Case Study: Kuopio Veterinary Clinic, Finland, with Agfa DR 100e

Kuopion Eläinlääkärikeskus (KEK) in Kuopio, Finland, specializes in small animal orthopedics, including fracture, knee and spinal surgery. After years of using an Agfa CR 30-X, the clinic became the first in Finland to install the compact mobile DR 100e system, together with MUSICA 3 processing and SE Suite for image archiving and distribution.

Highlights

• About 1000 patients a month, close to 75% of them dogs, and about 15 radiology exams a day
• Shorter imaging queues: nurses acquire images in one room while veterinarians view them in four other rooms
• Very sharp images with more detail for diagnosis and treatment planning
• Bone thickness measurements for correct implant placement, even in a 1.5 kg dog with a bone thickness of about 1.6 mm
• Imaging of standing, awake dogs, without sedation for many post-operative checks
• Installation, training and service by Imaqen Ltd, the authorized Agfa distributor in Finland

Description

KEK has been operating since 1999 and has 5 veterinarians and 6 veterinary nurses. Dozens of orthopedic patients visit the clinic every week, 5 to 10 percent of whom need surgery. The criteria for choosing the new system were image quality, ease of use, archiving capability and, above all, reliability and support.

According to Dr. Sinikka Sarpanen, imaging the thorax of a standing dog gives much better diagnostic quality than imaging a lying, sedated dog, and the knee of a 90 kg dog is checked without sedation after TTA surgery. The original images and the images with measurements are stored in SE Suite so that they are available during surgery.

Solutions used

• DR 100e: a compact mobile DR system for imaging awake or sedated animals
• DR 14e detector: wireless, cassette-free, with Automatic Exposure Detection (AED) and easy cleaning
• MUSICA 3 processing: automatic application of the right parameters, independent of the exam type
• MUSICA Nerve Center: fast image acquisition and reduced stress for the animal
• SE Suite: archiving, distribution and viewing of images