High acceptance of the Accutron HP-D contrast medium injector in the hospital SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn

Experienced radiologists and creative engineers are in constant dialogue with the users of the injectors. Professor Dr. med. Philippe L. Pereira, director of the clinic for radiology, minimally invasive therapy and nuclear medicine of the hospital SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn GmbH, academic hospital of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, talks about his experience with the use of the MEDTRON double head contrast medium injector Accutron HP-D.

MEDTRON: Professor Pereira, you have been using the Accutron HP-in your hospital SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn for almost twenty months and you have been able to extensively test the device. What is your experience with the double head contrast medium injector?

Prof. Pereira: We have been using the Accutron HP-D in our hybrid angiography unit of Siemens since February 2010. On the basis of this experience period I can say that we are very satisfied with the device. In particular the handiness of the injector and the cordless battery operation, which allows a flexible positioning at the angiography table, constitute an advantage.

Moreover, the combination of a contrast medium injector with an interface and a wireless touch screen remote control allows programming and operating the device from the outside of the angiography unit. By means of the remote control almost all operating functions can be controlled.

The injector allows the parallel filling of contrast medium and isotonic saline solution which can be started automatically on the display. This is a very user-friendly and time-saving feature for the medical-technical radiology assistants (MTRAs). Thanks to the automated process there is more time left for the MTRA to make further preparations.

Moreover, the possibility of heating each piston individually by means of the heatable piston holders turns out to be at the same time very user- and patient-friendly, especially in Dyna-CT imaging when contrast medium is administered by means of a micro catheter.

MEDTRON: Which advantages does the Accutron HP-D offer particularly with respect to Angio-CT examinations?

Prof. Pereira: In order to ensure an exact therapy planning or localization of findings, especially in case of complex vessel situations, it is useful to carry out an Angio-CT or Dyna-CT. The required steady contrast can be realized with a significantly lower contrast medium concentration, e.g. in Angio-CTs with a concentration of 50 % or sometimes even less. This is both more patient-friendly and saves costs. Concentrations of 12.5 % may be sufficient for special measurements within therapy monitoring before and after embolizations, such as the determination of the parenchymal blood volume by means of parenchyma contrasting.

Moreover, different contrast medium concentrations from 100 % to 12.5 % are required in the different phases of an intervention. When using a single piston system, these concentrations would have to be mixed and filled manually – a complicated and time-consuming procedure. The double piston system of the Accutron HP-D with up to three phases per injection can provide any contrast medium concentration at any moment during the examination. In fixed examination regimes the planned injection parameters can be saved in up to 60 programmes.

To sum up, we can say that the amount of time and work required for each examination can be reduced and thus time and costs can be saved by using the Accutron HP-D.

MEDTRON: MEDTRON tube systems for multiple use labelled with “5x” are designed in a way that retrograde contaminations or cross contaminations from patient to patient can be excluded as far as possible according to the current state of the art, provided that the products are used correctly together with the corresponding disposable articles. Does this tube system for multiple use make your work easier?

Prof. Pereira: Yes, definitely. This special tube system with check valves allows reusing the pistons and the tube system close to the pistons after having changed the patient line. If desired, the system and the corresponding tube system can also be used like a normal single piston system for simple angiographies, with just one piston of contrast medium and without additional physiological saline solution. In our clinic, we use this method for example for diagnostic pelvis-leg or visceral angiographies. Of course, with this special tube system, both pistons can be refilled via the connected refill bottles.

MEDTRON: That sounds very positive. Where do you see potential for optimization? How can we further improve the Accutron HP-D?

Prof. Pereira: It happened once that the piston or the piston rod got stuck while moving backwards. The reason for this was that the piston mount has not been pushed into the recipient as far as possible. Usually the mechanical system has enough play to compensate for small inaccuracies during operation.

All in all, there is a high level of acceptance for the Accutron HP-D by the MTRAs and doctors thanks to its user-friendliness and great flexibility. Moreover, we appreciate the fast technical support of Medtron.

MEDTRON: Professor Pereira, thank you very much for your suggestions and the detailed interview.

MEDTRON AG
With more than 4,000 devices installed worldwide, MEDTRON AG has become firmly established on the international market as the leading European company in developing and manufacturing high-quality contrast medium injectors. The innovative and high-quality injector concepts of the company from the Saarland (Germany) complete all modern examination methods which can be performed by the help of medical imaging systems such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and angiography.

All contrast medium injectors of MEDTRON are cordless because they work with high-output rechargeable batteries.

MEDTRON AG’s concept for success is based on experienced radiological know-how combined with creative, technically skilful engineering. Thanks to a constant user dialogue and the integration of the customer in the product development process, MEDTRON devices as well as device-specific consumables and customer-specific individual solutions meet all requirements regarding precision, diagnostics, patient-friendliness, economic efficiency and functionality. As a qualified, competent partner in the field of medical technology, the team of MEDTRON AG with more than 40 employees is very well prepared for its way to become the market leader in developing and manufacturing professional contrast medium injectors.

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MEDTRON AG
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