Agfa's new CR (computed radiology) technology set to match DR (direct radiology):
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Agfa is developing new scan-head technology (SHT) with needle-based storage phosphor plates for its computed radiology (CR) system. It claims that SHT can equal the image quality of direct radiology (DR), but at a lower cost. SHT consists of a laser beam and an array of charge coupled devices (CCD) that read a phosphor plate line-by-line, rather than spot-by-spot. The needle-based storage phosphors increase the detection quantum efficiency (DQE) of the system three-fold compared with current CR, allowing a reduction in X-ray dose. Agfa expects a product to reach market by 2003.