Siemens Healthineers is launching a new premium digital radiography (DR) system called Ysio X.pree at this week's ECR 2020 meeting. The system includes a number of new technologies designed to help automate x-ray image acquisition and interpretation.
Ysio X.pree is designed to meet the major challenges facing hospitals and imaging centers today, according to Ronald Froehlich, head of marketing for x-ray products at Siemens. These include a lack of experienced staff -- both radiologists and radiographers -- which can lead to problems such as unnecessary retakes and exposure to radiation dose.
The Ysio X.pree DR system includes automation tools to improve efficiency. Image courtesy of Siemens Healthineers.Imaging vendors can help by designing systems that are able to operate intelligently regardless of the experience level of the user, Froehlich said. One of the first of these systems was Somatom X.cite, a CT scanner launched at RSNA 2019 that includes an on-board camera to help with patient positioning, as well as the company's MyExam Companion software, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to guide users through complex tasks.
With the launch of Ysio X.pree, Siemens is bringing this technology to radiology's oldest modality. From its position on the tube head, the unit's MyExam 3D camera gives users a live image of the x-ray room, enabling radiographers to keep the patient in focus even if they leave the room.
Thanks to the camera, radiographers can confirm that the correct x-ray exposure settings are being used, and they can also perform virtual collimation, adjusting the collimation of an exam from the workstation in the control room without having to collimate manually, Froehlich said.
The system also has an automated thorax collimation tool, which automatically detects the patient's thorax and correctly collimates the region of interest. This feature was developed using an AI algorithm trained on thousands of images, he noted.
But what about radiologists? Ysio X.pree also has automation tools they might find useful, according to Froehlich.
Siemens has found that radiologists are interested in consistent image quality, which may differ from one radiologist to the next. Therefore, the company has given radiologists the tools to define their own image quality with six different "flavors" that include differences in contrast to noise to brightness, and these flavors can be assigned to different protocols.
Finally, Ysio X.pree can produce what Siemens calls "ready to go" images, in which functions that were once performed by radiographers -- such as image cropping -- are now performed by the AI algorithm.
Ysio X.pree is available as a ceiling-mounted system that also comes with a bucky wall stand. The system uses 43 x 35-cm digital detectors from Trixell.
Siemens expects the first deliveries of Ysio X.pree to begin in June 2020, after receipt of the CE Mark and U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance. The company plans to sell in the system in Europe, North America, and other global markets.
