The Roundtable: Contrast Injectors

CT and all that it requires can seem a daunting market to navigate for a biomed without much of an imaging background. But a CT injector is just a pump, Stephen Maull reminds us in this month’s roundtable, and there’s a lot you probably already know about maintaining pumps. Below, we’ll give you some background about the CT injector market and provide responses to common service and purchasing questions from Maull, who offers training on CT injector service, and from Nick Hersman, a product manager for Bayer HealthCare Services (formerly Medrad).

The global contrast media market boasts a total value of $6.2 billion, according to a new report by Markets and Markets. Though the market researcher calls the contrast media market “nearly mature,” the report’s prediction is that the market will continue to grow, reaching a value of $8.6 billion by 2017.

“It’s liquid gold,” says one TechNation reader who regularly services contrast injectors. Contrast media, and the moneymaking potential it holds for manufacturers, drives innovation and growth in the contrast injector market, according to Markets and Markets’ latest report, “Contrast Media/Contrast Agents Market.” The report lists the following manufacturers as major players in the contrast arena: GE Healthcare, Bracco Diagnostic, Inc., Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals, Covidien and Guerbet Group. All five provide a contrast portfolio that includes injectors, syringes and contrast media.

Players in this market have adopted various strategies to expand their global footprint and increase their market share, according to the report, such as new product packages, partnerships and alliances with other device makers and service providers and, mergers and acquisitions. A major trend is in the way contrast media and injectors are marketed and sold. Many injectors are sold in a package that includes syringes that are pre-filled with the manufacturer’s contrast media. Some third-party equipment and service providers argue that this is a restrictive practice because many manufacturers have designed their syringes to only fit their equipment. But the technology has its upside for busy hospitals and imaging centers. Pre-filled syringes have helped hospitals who rely on CT for revenue to both increase their throughput and boost morale of the technologists who perform the tests.

Dawn Ross, X-ray supervisor at Modesto Imaging Center in Modesto, Calif., told Applied Radiology that after the facility switched to a helical scanner, the facility’s technologists had to begin coming to work a half hour early just to get the syringes for the day filled. “They were complaining about having to do this,” Ross said. “At the same time, our patient load increased by about 10 patients a day, so it made more sense to get the prefilled syringes. They’re ready to go and you don’t have as much set up time, so using prefilled syringes helped us increase our patient volume.”

Like it or not, the trend toward prefilled syringes appears to be here to stay. Contrast media is used in almost all radiological examinations in the U.S. and Europe, the largest and second-largest markets, respectively. The increasing demand for diagnostic imaging and image-guided surgical procedures, coupled with technological advances and the ever-increasing incidence rates of cancer and cardiac disorders, will contribute to sustained market growth in the years ahead.

At right, experts from the biomed side offer their advice for navigating an evolving market and for managing maintenance of an evolving technology, including how biomeds on the front lines can help ensure uptime and resolve common problems. Responders include Nick Hersman, Strategic Marketing Product Manager for Bayer HealthCare Services and Stephen Maull, President of Maull Biomedical.

What are the biggest trends right now in the CT injector market?

HERSMAN: The market as a whole is moving toward technological advancements focused on informatics, record keeping, radiation dosage, remote access and more personalization for the patient.

Evidence of this trend is the capability that now exists for the remote service of injectors—a significant technological advancement that maximizes uptime and improves department workflow. You can request service with the touch of a button and download software updates nearly immediately. There is what I would call an “efficiency evolution” happening with the push toward cloudbased technology that enables service.

How will the market for CT injectors evolve in the next five years? How will that affect service of the equipment?

HERSMAN: Over the next five years, we’ll see injectors evolve to become more software-driven and interconnected with other devices and data management systems. Those who are responsible for service of devices will need to keep up with this evolution by continuing to educate themselves on the latest technologies. Working with the original equipment manufacturer to gain necessary training and service know-how is an effective way to increase knowledge and keep up with the industry’s ever-changing demands.

MAULL: Already the injectors are getting smarter. They are tracking patient radiation dose and contrast dose in an effort to maximize image quality with minimal radiation to the patient. The amount of patient information that the injectors incorporate into a patient’s EMR or the CT Images PACS will only increase over the next decade. However, as far as service goes, the ‘smarter’ injector is no different than the ‘dumber’ injector. The biomed will still have to check flow rates, volumes, pressures and clean the systems on an annual basis, and the method of doing that remains largely unchanged.

Read full article in the Jan. 2013 issue of TechNation Magazine.