Which factors influence the MRI Scanner cost?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: May 31, 2023
MRI Scanner Cost

MRI Scanners are crucial diagnostic equipment for any imaging department that allows the investigation of structures and organs inside the human body. They are an undeniable part of most healthcare facilities. It is leveraged for the detection of brain and spinal cord conditions such as brain tumors, strokes, dementia, traumatic brain injury, developmental anomalies, and others.

If you are also considering purchasing an MRI system, it would cost you anywhere between $400 to $3500. It can make a dent in your bank account if you are on a budget because the systems are expensive to build. Moreover, the quality testing, manufacturing, installation, and further maintenance make it an expensive affair to sustain.

There are many more factors that affect the cost of MRI Scanner – Year of manufacture (YOM), field strength, gradient strength, slew rate, and channels. The higher the number on these, the higher the price.

In this article, we are going to discuss them all so that you can make an informed decision regarding your purchase.

Factors That Affect the MRI Scanner Cost

1. Refurbished or new MRI Scanner

It’s no secret that the prices of refurbished MRI Scanners are typically 50 to 80% less than those of new systems.

So, if your requirements can be fulfilled with the refurbished system, then purchasing the same would be a wise decision. On the contrary, if you wish to work with a more advanced MRI scanner and have the budget to purchase it, then why not. Go ahead and get the best one for your healthcare facility.

2. Slew rate and gradient strength

The slew rate and gradient strength deliver top performance to your MRI Scanner and act as engines for the same.

So, considering the examinations you will be conducting at your healthcare facility, the gradient strength and slew rates will be decided on the same. The stronger their values are, the greater will be the image clarity.

In other words, the higher the values of gradient strength and slew rates, the more expensive the MRI Scanner will be. Simply put, the capability of the MRI system will increase with it, which in turn increases the cost of the Scanner.

3. MRI coil type in MRI system

The price of the MRI coil type increases with the number of channels in the coil. So, if we say that an MRI scanner has 4–8 channel coils, it will be less expensive than one with 16–32 channel coils.

Hence, if you require more channels in an MRI coil, you will have to spend some extra dollars to get it in your MRI Scanner.

4. Low field v/s high field MRI Scanner

Low-field MRI scanners are usually open-bore MRIs. These include the 0.2T, 0.3T, and 0.4T MRIs.

The 0.2T MRI systems are the least expensive, while the used 0.3T to 0.4T MRI scanner cost almost twice as much as the 0.2T systems.

On the other hand, the high-field MRI systems are very powerful and offer clear images of deep tissues. The year of manufacture of the high-field MRI system plays a crucial role in determining the price range of this equipment. The latest is the year of manufacture, the more will be the price of the MRI scanner.

These are closed and often make the patient feel claustrophobic. The newest models of these MRI systems can burn a hole in your pocket with their expensive price range and additional maintenance costs that come along with it.

5. Wide bore MRIs

Wide-bore MRIs are in greater demand in the market, given the comfort they offer the patient during the examination process.

Their diameter measures 70 cm instead of 60 cm, making the patient feel comfortable and breathable. It is for this reason that their prices are spiking in the market.

6. Helium cold magnet or permanent magnet

The magnet type influences the price of an MRI Scanner significantly. The helium-cooled magnets of 0.4T MRIs are more expensive than those of 0.4T MRIs with permanent magnets.

Apart from being expensive, helium-cooled MRI also requires extensive maintenance. You will need extra helium to keep it running. It can further add to the cost of such MRI scanners.

7. Year of manufacture

The older the year of manufacture, the cheaper an MRI system is. With the latest advancements in the model launched every year, the cost of the MRI scanner keeps on increasing because of the additional capabilities, it offers in the market.

Note: The prices of MRIs scanner fluctuate greatly on the above-mentioned factors. Many times, the cost of installation, maintenance, and training of the staff also spikes the cost of such systems, while at other times, you just pay for the amount of the MRI scanner.

Conclusion

The above-mentioned factors must have given you a clear picture of how every feature influences the cost of MRI scanner. We recommend you be very clear about your requirements when purchasing an MRI system.

If you are still struggling with queries or second thoughts, don’t waste more time and connect with us to get all the information on what will work best for your requirements. We would be extremely happy to assist you. We can guide you to select the best medical imaging equipment for your healthcare facility and also help you to protect your investment and provide options for saving maintenance and service costs on your pre-owned or refurbished medical imaging equipment.

To get further information, please feel free to call us at +1 586 917 0245 or email us at sales@kbdentalconsulting.com.

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Are you ready to receive your new CT scanner? How to begin the installation process?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: May 31, 2023
New CT Scanner

A CT scanner machine installation process is more than just placing the machine on the spot in a healthcare facility. There are several potential pitfalls that you can encounter during the process, which demand thorough planning in advance to eliminate them.

You need to consider a lot of factors if you want to save yourself from huge trouble in the long run. Deciding on the desired CT scanner machine won’t be enough to ensure running it successfully.

In this article, we will be shedding light on such factors that need the utmost attention when you prepare for the installation process of your new CT scanner machine.
Let’s get started.

Installation process of your new CT scanner machine

Optimum power supply

A CT scanner machine has certain power requirements such as line voltage, branch power, supply configuration, and circuit breakers that should comply with all applicable local & national electric codes. Every CT scanner has different requirements for these factors, which should be kept in mind while designing the power supply for this medical equipment. Additionally, it is recommended that you include at least one emergency power-off button in the examination room.

Efficient installation with no downtime

While planning for a new CT scanner machine installation, you would decide on stopping patient services during the process. However, this is unnecessary.

With a proactive team of contractors and personnel in the facility, you can choose to proceed with the installation of the CT scanner when the facility is at its lowest busy hours. You can keep attending to the patient and continue providing optimal patient care without having to shut down the entire healthcare office for your new machine installation process.

You can also choose to get this task done during the weekends which would eliminate any inconvenience that can be caused to the patient.

Choose a CT scanners system delivery route

Have you given a thought to how you will transfer the CT scanner to its exact location in the healthcare facility?

You need to plan for the exact pathway you are going to take for safe and efficient delivery of your expensive medical equipment.

It is important to shift the attention to its route to protect the facility’s floor, avoid any chaos at the facility and even safeguard the machine from any damage.

Shielding requirements

Since a CT scan machine will be utilizing radiation for scans, its examination room must be shielded to absorb them. The standards say that the height of the ceilings for a CT scanner examination room should be at least 8 feet.

For the room on top, the dose rate is calculated at 0.5 meters above the floor, while for the rooms below the exam rooms, it is calculated at 1.7 meters above the floor. You need to add more shielding to the nursing stations, vertical barriers, and even the control room.

Here, the CT scanner and the patient projected to the radiation are its highest source to the public and the personnel at the healthcare facility. Thus, it is important to install portable lead shields that can be used to protect patients in uptake rooms.

Moreover, the walls of the CT scanner examination room itself require 0.5 to 1-inch lead doors that should have 0.25 to 0.5 inches lead. In the case of viewing windows, ensure that the material used is glass or acrylic. Any spacing between the floors and uncontrolled areas must be shielded precisely to stop the passage of radiation out of the room.

Do not wrap up without system calibration.

System calibration is the most important step of the CT scanner installation process. It will be done by a calibration engineer on the final day of this medical equipment installation to match the system to OEM specifications. They will also check the entire machine for any challenges to ensure that it is patient-ready.
Once the engineer completes calibrating the machine, they will walk you and the person who would be operating the machine with its basic operations and components. You can also call it a system demonstration of use which is a general tutorial for you to get started without any obstacles. However, if you wish to enhance the expertise level of your staff, you will have to call experts to your facility to train them intensively.

Check the documentation

Before you wrap up the installation process, you will have to fill out some forms offered by the calibrating engineer. You will have to sign a form that illustrates your satisfaction with the installation job and acceptance of the same.

Read it thoroughly and check if everything is done on-site as narrated in the form. It will be your chance to conduct a final inspection for the system approval on site.

Be prepared!

The CT scanner installation process isn’t challenging if you prepare for it well in advance. Keep the above-discussed tips in mind, and you won’t face any halt in the entire process.

In case you are looking for an expert team who can responsibly handle it all for you, connect with us, and we won’t leave a thing for you to worry about.

To get further information about pre-owned and refurbished medical equipment please feel free to call us at +1 586 917 0245 or email us at sales@kbdentalconsulting.com.

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Top Features to Keep In Mind When Finding A Quality Dental X-Ray Machine!

By | Date posted: | Last updated: May 31, 2023
Dental X-Ray Machine

Diagnosing your patients accurately is the duty of the dental professional to carry out further treatment rightfully. A dental X-ray machine comes in handy for this task to discover problems like tooth decay, abscesses, or bone loss in patients. They are an inseparable part of a dental practice and should be put some thought into before investing in a new one.

Many dental professionals have little knowledge while starting out in their practice about what features to consider. In this article, we will provide you with the top features that you should look out for while finding a quality dental X-ray machine.

keep the following features in mind, while finding a dental X-ray machine:

Digital x-ray machine

One of the first important decisions while finding a quality dental x-ray machine is whether to use digital x-rays or traditional films. Traditional films have been in dental practice for many years. But the introduction of digital x-ray has taken the industry by storm.

Digital x-ray machines are not only easy to use but also generate images instantly for viewing and diagnosing. They use x-ray sensors that decrease the time to develop the images, which means a lot when compared to using conventional film X-rays.

X-ray scan time

Give a thought to the scan time of every dental x-ray machine on your list. Ensure that the one you are settling for has a minimum scan time of 10 minutes because the longer scan times can hamper the efficiency of the entire process. It also adds to the discomfort of the patients and decreases the number of patients you can take in for x-ray scans.

Ease of use

Your next dental x-ray machine should be easy to use and intuitive. You must read the reviews before buying the machine. Read the manual to learn how easy it is to get started with the machine and software.

Ensure that your vendor is open to providing on-site training on the dental x-ray machine. It will help with the learning curve among the staff personnel.

Extraoral bitewings

Extraoral offers a bitewing-like view that comes as a great alternative to intraoral bitewings. It works great for patients with smaller mouths or those with a sensitive gag reflex.

This feature is one of the most requested features by dentists today. It is known to add comfort when intraoral bitewings are not easy to capture.

Cephalometric upgradeability

While investing in expensive equipment like a dental x-ray machine, you need to put some thought into it so that it can serve you in the present as well as in the future. If your dental practice has the scope of including a paediatric dentist or orthodontist into your practice, you need to get a piece of x-ray equipment that has the capability to be upgraded to obtain cephalometric x-rays later.

Not all digital panoramic x-rays can be upgraded, so ensure that you ask in advance whether the cephalometric attachment can be added to it. It will help you plan for the future at the same time and with the same investment.

Minimum radiation

Experiencing minimum radiation from your dental-ray machine is an essential characteristic to look out for before investing. The sensors of a dental x-ray machine consume very little energy to expose the image from the x-ray generator. You can anticipate almost 90% less radiation with dental film depending upon your exposure settings.

Software required

The imaging software you are settling for should be able to work in conjunction with the practice management software you already use at your dental practice. Some have the right information on the program module while others need to create a bridge to the practice management software for quickly pulling up the patient’s name and on the imaging side.

2D/3D capability

Traditional films may have been a thing of the past, but one can still find some systems still using them today. If you are ready to make the shift to the digital age, you can choose from the 2D digital panoramic options available on the market.

However, the cephalometric and digital panoramic systems have entirely replaced the phosphor plate or conventional films of the past. Another rising standard of care in dental practice is the dental cone beam. It provides 3D imaging that helps dental professionals with better diagnosis, treatment, and patient care.

If you are tight on investment, 2D x-rays are a great option to choose as they offer enough information to treat your patients rightfully. 3D imaging x-rays are worth investing in if you deal with complicated cases that require a comprehensive diagnosis.

Conclusion

A quality medical x-ray equipment is a must-have piece of equipment for any dentist in their practice. It assists dental professionals to provide top-notch healthcare to their patients. With this article, you can rest assured of finding the best dental x-ray machine for your practice.

However, if you wish for some assistance from the experts, feel free to connect with us +1 586 917 0245 or email us at sales@kbdentalconsulting.com. Our experienced professionals will guide you through every obstacle that is stopping you from finding the best medical equipment for yourself.

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How does Diagnostic Imaging Equipment affect by Power Problems?

By | Date posted: | Last updated: May 31, 2023
diagnostic-imaging-equipment

Power fluctuations and failures are one of the biggest concerns for diagnostic imaging equipment as they make them susceptible to temporary or permanent damage. Such equipment works in a very specific power range and has very fine calibration tolerances.

So, when any power quality disturbance or issue takes place, medical facilities experience reliability issues, decreased productivity, downtime, and frustrated staff and patients. This equipment includes expensive parts like tubes, connectors, boards, and others that can burn a hole in your pocket on their replacement.

However, to save your expensive diagnostic imaging equipment from any uninvited power issues, you need to be acquainted with all the possible problems that can come your way. So, to educate you on the various power issues and how they affect your imaging equipment, we have crafted an informative article for you.

Read on.

Common power problems affecting diagnostic imaging equipment

There are some common power disturbances that you need to be cautious of for your equipment. Some of them are listed below.

  • Flicker: It is a momentary outage of power that lasts less than 60 seconds. It can shut down medical equipment completely at your facility. In such a case, your equipment requires a proper shut down or resetting. It usually occurs in situations like when a tree branch touches a power line, or a construction accident disrupts a power line.
  • Surge: It refers to a momentary increase in voltage caused by unexpected burdens on the electrical system. You can also experience such issues when a high-power demand device is turned off and the surplus voltage gets dissipated in the power line. It often increases the amount of electricity in the power lines. It causes premature failure and surges of stress in delicate components.
  • Spike: It is a roaring increase in voltage that lasts for microseconds caused by power coming back on after an outage or by lightning. Spike can lead to premature equipment failure.
  • Sag: It is a rapid, short-term dip in voltage caused by high power demand simultaneously by many electrical devices. It decreases the life span and efficiency of equipment.
  • Noise: In the smooth flow of electricity, noise is an electromagnetic interference or radio frequency interference. It can affect the performance of your equipment by introducing glitches and errors into data files and software programs.
  • Outage: Also called a blackout, it refers to a total power loss for a prolonged time. It often leads to unexpected data loss and the shutting down of all types of diagnostic imaging equipment.

We’ll move on to learn about their effects so that you can identify their causes now that you are well informed of the common power problems that can damage your radiology imaging equipment.

Impacts of power issues on diagnostic imaging equipment

1. Loss of patient data

The loss of the patient data may sound like just an inconvenience, but it is more of a revenue loss for you. You will lose access to all the previous scans of the patients on whom current treatment is going on or is yet to be started.

In such a case, you must either request that your patients take those tests again for a fee or deal with the compensation that must be provided to the patients for your irresponsibility.

This way, you are not only showcasing unintended irresponsible behavior to your patients but also losing tonnes of patients because of the uninvited technical glitch.

2. Decreased equipment performance

Frequent power losses have a dramatic impact on the performance of equipment. The instant shut down of working diagnostic imaging equipment often hinders the everyday operations at a medical facility. It may need resetting or carrying out scans from the beginning in case you haven’t saved the data.

Frequent and improper shutdown of the equipment thus affects its performance and uptime. This results in not only frustrating the staff but also the patients with the waiting time at the facility.

3. Permanent equipment damage

Many times, because of the power surge, the medical imaging equipment experienced a high amount of electricity running through it. In such a case, the equipment is unable to sustain the huge power flowing through it and collapses.

Sometimes it may damage only some parts of the diagnostic imaging equipment. On the other hand, if the damage is brutal, the whole equipment is unable to sustain the huge power flowing through it and collapses.

Conclusion

These are some of the common consequences experienced by medical imaging equipment because of the power issues. If you wish to seek protection from such power problems, you need to come up with a reliable solution for them.

Connect with our specialists to get help creating a completely power-proof environment if you’re lost and unsure of where to begin. With this, you can be prepared for any forthcoming power issues for your diagnostic imaging equipment.

We are pioneers in selling pre-owned and refurbished medical imaging equipment from reputed OEMs like Toshiba, Philips, Siemens, GE, and more. We can help you to select the best medical equipment for your healthcare facility and help you to protect your investment and provide options for saving maintenance and service costs on your pre-owned or refurbished medical equipment.

To get further information, please feel free to call us at +1 586 917 0245 or email us at sales@kbdentalconsulting.com.

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