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An Introductory Look at Contrast Injectors

In todays edition of the MedWrench blog I want to highlight a guest blog provided by Steve Maull, President at Maull Biomedical Training, LLC.

Tue Jan 31 2017By Jonathan Payne

 

In today’s edition of the MedWrench blog I want to highlight a guest blog provided by Steve Maull, President at Maull Biomedical Training, LLC. Steve joined the US Air Force and received his BMET training at Sheppard AFB from April 1991 to March of 1992. He was selected to be a BMET Instructor in 1997 for the Air Force BMET School at Sheppard AFB, TX where he taught Clinical Lab and Microprocessor Theory. In 1999 he became a Curriculum Developer for the newly formed Department of Defense BMET School at Sheppard AFB where he wrote the lesson plans, curriculum, training manuals, quizzes and tests for several of the BMET courses. During his time in the Air Force he received awards for 1995 Airman Leadership School Distinguished Graduate and 1999 Squadron Curriculum Training Developer of the Year. In September of 2008, MBT held its first training course and has never stopped. Since its inception, through 2016 it has trained over 900 BMETs on the operation, PM and Calibration/Verification procedures on contrast injectors. His knowledge of contrast injectors came from his military BMET training and a former OEM Service Engineer. He is regarded by the Clinical Engineering industry as a subject matter expert on contrast injector operation, service and training. I can't thank Steve enough for agreeing to do a write up concerning Contrast Injectors for our MedWrench users. This write up includes background information on what contrast injectors are as well as a few basic PM tips and a few basic things you need to know when performing PM tips on Injectors. 

 

 

Steve Maull

 

 

 

What is a contrast injector?
 

A contrast injector is a device used for the specific purpose of injecting contrast medium into the blood stream of a patient during an imaging procedure.

There are three types of contrast injectors; CT, MRI and Angio. Angio injectors are found in Specials and Cath Lab rooms. While each type of injector has a feature or two that makes it suitable to that particular type of imaging equipment, all contrast injectors are basically the same. They all are composed of the same three basic components (head, display and main unit) and they all perform the same basic pump functions (flow rate, volume and pressure limit).

The fluid the contrast injector injects into the patient highlights the blood vessels in the patient image; without this fluid the blood vessels would be invisible on the image. CT and Angio injectors use an iodine based contrast fluid while MRI injectors use a gadolinium base contrast fluid (CT and Angio use x-rays to produce the image but MRI utilizes a magnetic field and RF pulses to produce the image; that's the reason for the different fluids).

CT and MRI injectors inject the fluid through an IV needle but an Angio injector injects the fluid into the patient via a catheter inserted into either the venous or arterial system of the patient.

 

Here are a few things you need to know, in general, about performing PMs on contrast injectors.

 

  • They are annual.
  • When performing a PM, there are three basic things that need to be done:
    • Cleaning (warm water only, no cleaning solvents EVER on the outside cases).
    • Operational Inspection (checking button functions and performing injections with various parameters programmed).
    • Verify the pressure limit, plunger position and flow rates are within manufacturer's specifications (some models have a few extra bells and whistles that need verified, but these are the three parameters common to all injectors).
  • You will need a special pressure gauge.
    • Every BMET shop has a pressure gauge but the gauge you need to perform the pressure limit checks on a contrast injector needs to 1) attach to the two types of luer locks on the end of the syringes, and 2) be able to measure up to 2000 PSI.
    • If you are performing a PM on an angio injector (Mark V Plus, ProVis, Angiomat Illumena) you will also need to perform some timed injections that will require either your ability to trigger an o-scope or purchase a special timer that can measure a 4.00 second square wave.

 

 

For more specific information about contrast injectors, please visit Maull Biomedical's website and take their free Introduction to Contrast Injectors Course (you must register with the website first).

 

 

 

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