Finding Hard-to-Find Medical Equipment Parts

We’ve all been there: our hardworking medical equipment wears out or breaks down and it isn’t possible to repair it again. It’s time to find a replacement medical part and quickly, but it isn’t to be found locally and you just don’t have the time or the budget to spend days searching. Finding a source to serve all of our medical parts needs, for all types of medical equipment and covering all of the manufacturers, is not an easy task.

That’s why MedWOW, in addition to providing the most comprehensive medical equipment portal available, decided to form partnerships with some of the most all-inclusive medical parts finder services, ensuring that their ability to find even the most obscure medical parts is possible. That means that ANY diagnostic imaging and biomedical category found in healthcare settings are covered, including veterinary and dental medical equipment parts.

The medical Parts Finder form requests buyers to fill out the online form in as much detail as possible, including fields for: category, device, manufacturer, model, parts detail, version, destination and other factors. MedWOW’s dedication allows your healthcare facility to run without interruption, as with the medical Parts Finding Service, most parts can be located within 48 hours.

You can also search for more easily found parts using the portal’s search engine. With a state-of-the-art database featuring inventories from hundreds of dealers and manufacturers, you can see at a glance if the medical part you require is available for purchase. Some of the most popular general search categories for medical equipment parts include: imaging, cardiology, endoscopy, gastroenterology, neurosurgery and many more.

You can opt to use the free text quick search, if you know the exact make, model and number of your medical equipment part. You can also choose from a drop-down list of medical parts or choose your medical part according to category. Another alternative is to post a detailed buying lead for your required medical part, and receive competitive quotes from sellers and relevant service providers.

Whichever method you choose to find your medical equipment part, the folks at MedWOW will ensure that if it is available anywhere in the world, that medical part is yours!

Advances in Cardiovascular X-ray Systems

The introduction of flat panel detectors to cardiovascular x-rays have been an important advance in increasing the speed of C-arm rotations and decreasing the time it takes for examinations. The flat panel detector converts the x-rays into signals which the computers use to produce an image. Cardiovascular X-ray Systems are particularly important in difficult or intricate procedures as they optimize the intervention and enhance the power of the entire cath lab, the examination room used to support catheterization for procedures with cardiovascular involvement.

Newer digital cardiovascular x-ray systems provide crystal-clear imaging of cardiac and vascular interventions with versatility in diagnostic imaging, providing lucid visualization of small details and objects for complex interventions. These state-of-the-art cardiovascular x-rays also have the benefit of giving much lower x-ray dosages than their predecessors, which minimizes X-ray dose for cardiac, vascular, and especially pediatric examinations. Now cardiologists can get twice the information with a single contrast injection, which is much safer and easier as it minimizes the dose of radiation to both patients and staff during x-ray examination.

These modern digital cardiovascular x-ray systems allow cardiologists to personalize their settings and conveniently control all movements and interventional tools in order to provide outstanding support for treating congenital heart disease and performing vascular examinations. One of the major advantages of this type of cardiovascular x-ray equipment is that treatment can also be carried out at the same time. Occlusion of the blood vessels can be opened by inflating a balloon catheter and if necessary, a stent can be placed to keep the vessel open.

Some of the most recent models offer navigation for cardiologists for structural heart procedures, utilizing real-time 2D x-ray images and 3D cardiac models from multiple modalities, such as vascular x-ray, CT and MR, and image stabilization features. 3D tools particularly support treatment strategies for coronary angiography procedures as 3D x-ray techniques allow easier visualization of vessels and heart. In addition, 3D angiography delivers a lower patient radiation dose, using less contrast material, as well as being faster and therefore, increasing medical facility efficiency.

Thanks to the technology used in these innovative x-ray systems, interventional procedures, vascular, and cardiovascular applications are streamlined. Because it simplifies cath lab workflow, cardiologists can now completely and more accurately focus on a wider range of cardiac patients and help them deliver faster, more accurate diagnoses and treatment.

Factors to Consider When Buying a CT Scanner

Technical specifications of available CT scanners are often quite extensive. Although it is helpful to review these for each CT scanner component, this may not reflect the relative clinical performance of the systems. It is also important to recognize that the performance in practice depends on the trade-off between image quality and radiation dose.

The time taken to complete a scan is a key factor in scanner performance and may limit the type of procedure that can be performed. In most cases, the limitation is set by the need to control artifacts due to involuntary patient motion, such as restlessness, or breathing and peristalsis.

CT Scanner design factors which affect the total scan time are the gantry rotation time and detector array design along the z-axis (scan axis).
The maximum scan length is governed by the z-axis detector array design, and the X-ray tube heat characteristics. With the large volumes of data generated with a 64 slice scanner, for example, the total scan length may also be limited by computer memory capacity.

The rotation time of the tube and the detectors around the patient has a direct effect on total scan time. Image quality will improve with faster rotation time, as there will be reduced misregistration of data arising from patient movement. This misregistration of data introduces artifacts into the image.

The length of the detector array determines the number of rotations needed to cover the total scan length, and thus the overall scan time. Multislice (MSCT) scanners cover a patient volume between 20 and 40 mm in length per rotation, and the latest diagnostic MSCT scanners can image patient volumes of up to 160 mm per rotation.

Complete coverage of an organ, such as the heart or the brain, offers advantages for both dynamic perfusion and cardiac studies. The z-axis detector array lengths of up to 80 mm on current scanners are adequate to cover these organs in only a few rotations. A coverage length of 160 mm usually allows complete organ coverage in a single rotation, so the function of the whole organ can be monitored over time.

Modern CT scanning techniques place a high heat load on the X-ray tube due to the need for high tube current values, in order to give enough photons in the image when scanning with fast rotations and fine slices. To scan a sufficiently long length, while avoiding overheating, X-ray tubes have generally been developed to have high anode heat capacities and high cooling rates. Some designs have low anode heat capacities, but very high cooling rates to compensate.

The principal parameters that describe image quality are: spatial resolution, contrast resolution, temporal resolution, and the prevalence of artifacts. The image quality actually achieved on any scanner depends not only on scanner design features, but also on scan parameters selected and patient-related factors, and will always be a compromise between image quality and radiation dose.

Modern MSCT scanners should be capable of achieving isotropic resolution: a z-axis resolution equal to, or approaching, the scan plane resolution, as this is essential for good quality multiplanar and 3D reconstructions.

Contrast resolution is the ability to resolve an object from its surroundings. The ability to detect an object will depend on its contrast, the image noise and the size.

Dose efficiency of the scanner is a significant factor in the examinations, as it will determine the dose required for a given level of contrast resolution.

In CT, temporal resolution is usually considered in the context of cardiac scanning. The aim is to minimize image artifacts due to the motion of the heart.

Generator power is an important factor in low-contrast examinations. Low noise images require high tube current values, particularly when coupled with fast rotation speeds and narrow slice acquisitions. Fast rotation speeds improve the temporal resolution and reduce movement artifacts.

Artifacts are defined as structures in the image that are not present in the object. An imaging system will invariably produce some level of artifact, but it becomes an issue if it obscures an abnormality, resulting in a false negative diagnosis, or mimics an abnormality, giving a false positive result.
Artifacts can be due to patient factors, scanner design factors or the reconstruction process, which by necessity involves some approximations.

Doses from CT examinations are generally significantly higher than those for conventional X-ray, although a CT scan provides more diagnostic information. The CT doses may be typically factors of 10s higher for standard head and abdomen examinations, and factors of 100s for chest examinations.

The Importance of Pulse Oximeters

Before the development of pulse oximeters, in the not-so-distant past, physicians primarily had to assess, diagnosis, and evaluate many medical conditions based on their experience and clinical judgment. This is an essential part of diagnosis, but some symptoms manifest only at the later stages of the disease, especially with problems concerning respiration. When breathing is weakened, arterial blood oxygen levels are reduced. Oxygen deprivation is dangerous and puts patients at risk. Fortunately, with the advancement of medical technology, high-quality innovations in the medical field have allowed doctors to diagnose and treat diseases more successfully. As a case in point, the development of the pulse oximeter has decreased the time in detecting oxygen desaturation and has also greatly minimized unnecessary blood testing.

There are many occasions on which a person can be deprived of oxygen. Hypoxemia, where there is a low amount of oxygen in the blood, may be brought about by illness or trauma to breathing structures. People who have respiratory disorders have the greatest chances of developing decreased arterial oxygen saturation. The principal candidates are patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and to a lesser extent, cardiac patients. Blood disorders that cause a deficiency in hemoglobin or alter the capacity of hemoglobin to carry and transport oxygen also result into decreased oxygen saturation levels.

The purpose of a pulse oximeter is to read the current amount of oxygen present in blood by placing the sensor over the fingertip (or sometimes the earlobe). The pulse oximeter reading will indicate whether activity needs to be stopped, or if supplemental oxygen is needed. Parents of children who have asthma are often advised to have a pulse oximeter with them, especially during strenuous activity. If the pulse oximeter results are read as low, then the child must stop playing, and take necessary medications.

For the elderly population, a pulse oximeter is also an important item. Heart disease leading to oxygen deficiency is a common cause of mortality among the geriatric population, so the pulse oximeter has become standard equipment in nursing homes. The hand-held pulse oximeter has proven to be useful in getting a non-invasive, yet accurate and continuous reading.

If delayed, oxygen deficiency causes brain damage, and can affect other vital organs. This is why airway and breathing is a priority during resuscitation, and a pulse oximeter is always present in ambulances, emergency rooms, operating rooms, or any health care facility. Pulse oximeters are also available for home use.