First, I must also confess a fatally-flawed preconception about RSNA. I had always figured that – with the sheer number of attendees – making sales would be as difficult as ‘shooting fish in a barrel.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact, the raw numbers of people and exhibits require that each attendee must exercise a laser-like focus to see what they want to see during the week. If you weren’t one of their priorities at home before Thanksgiving, you won’t be one the following week in Chicago.

This year, however, the (metaphorical) heavens parted and a slender, brilliant beam of enlightenment struck me as I sat sipping coffee in our booth. It’s not the mass of thousands of people that make RSNA worthwhile, it’s the fact that there are so many individuals that I’d like to talk with, gathered together under one roof, that makes RSNA so amazing. So, I started seeking-out those people I wanted to have conversations with.

We met at my booth. We met at their booths. We met in the educational sessions. We met at dinner. We shared coffee. We bumped into each other walking through the halls.

The tens of thousands who attended this most recent RSNA are just the ‘long list’ of people that I hope to have a chance to talk with in the years ahead. This year, however, my epiphany revolved around just a couple dozen people that I couldn’t have talked with in any venue other than RSNA.

I believe that this was really a major breakthrough… recognizing that the RSNA forest really is a bunch of individual trees… individuals that I really want to relate to on a one-to-one basis.

For the first time, I ended RSNA not focused on the too-little sleep, or sore feet, or hotel-induced-Alzheimers of not being able to remember my room number. This time, as I was headed to the airport in Chicago, I was genuinely excited about next year’s meeting.

This epiphany may have been patently obvious to others a long time ago, but for me it has totally changed my outlook on RSNA.

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One of the most effective means of screening for external ferromagnetic materials, particularly those that may be integrated with non-ferromagnetic MR Conditional objects or devices, is through the use of a ferromagnetic only detection system.

Halo vests are just one of huge number of potential ferromagnetic threats which endanger MRI patients, visitors and staff. Effective pre-screening for these risks should include the appropriate use of ferromagnetic detection systems, and this is more than my personal opinion.

To date, the ACR, JCAHO, the Department of Veterans Affairs and many MRI safety experts have called for the use of ferromagnetic screening to help mitigate just this sort of hazard.

Halo vests are just one of the innumerable objects that can pose grave threats to patients, staff, and MRI equipment if brought within the MRI scanner room. To protect people and scanner up-time, ferromagnetic detection is a wise investment.

]]> http://mrimetaldetector.com/blog/2009/12/rsna-aapm-identify-halo-ferromagnetic-risks/feed/ 2 http://mrimetaldetector.com/blog/2009/11/installment-3b-mri-safety-tour-of-rsna-exhibit-hall-a-part-2/ http://mrimetaldetector.com/blog/2009/11/installment-3b-mri-safety-tour-of-rsna-exhibit-hall-a-part-2/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:54:26 +0000 Tobias Gilk http://mrimetaldetector.com/blog/?p=669 (This is a continuation of my recommended MRI safety vendor itinerary, starting at the North Hall, which you can read about here, Lakeside Center, which you can read about here, and the first half of the South Hall, which you can read about here.)

Our company, Mednovus, is making the annual pilgrimage to Chicago after Thanksgiving for the biggest of all radiology trade shows, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. In my original post I indicated why I thought MRI safety would be a ‘hot topic’ at this year’s RSNA, and gave an itinerary for the North Hall (the Philips Hall) for stops at relevant vendors, including our company, Mednovus (booth #7801). Then I followed up with an itinerary for the Lakeside Center, and just a couple days ago, I provided half of the South Hall.

Continuing on that theme, and to facilitate your review of MRI safety products and vendors, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting the remaining select group of exhibitors from Exhibit Hall A, the South Hall, where the GE mega-booth is located…

The South Exhibit Hall (Hall A) includes exhibitors with booth numbers from 2500 – 6632. And while I won’t pretend to know what each exhibitor offers (so, clearly I won’t be able to identify all relevant MR safety products that might be featured at each exhibitor, please forgive any oversights), I would like to provide you with a short-list of stops that I recommend that you make.

Some of these are on my list because I know and recommend their products (look for the •), others are there because they’re new (to me at least) and I’m curious to learn more about them.

5449 Joint Commission – JCAHO is really only just coming into their own with respect to MRI safety. With the Sentinel Event Alert #38 last year, and next year’s code changes… the future promises that they’ll be more than just a paper tiger for MR.

5800 Sentinelle – Interventional MR is one of the real growth opportunities for the industry, and Sentinelle makes one of the most popular breast coil / biopsy products available.

6403 • American College of Radiology – The College’s MR Safety Committee (which I had the privilege to serve) will be coming out with a new joint statement on Gadolinium in the months ahead, and a revised version of the ‘Guidance Document’ in 2010. If you have a chance, thank them for their leading work in this area.

As before, there are likely vendors not on this list because (1) I either forgot or didn’t know about their product offerings, (2) they’re ‘old standby’s’ that I’m already familiar with, or (3) they’re in a different exhibit hall.

Which segues, nicely, into my (repeated) disclaimer that the above list is just for the second half of the South Hall (Hall ‘A’). If you’d like to read my proposed itinerary for the North Hall B, please click here, or if you’d like to read the MR safety stops for the Lakeside Center, please click here, or if you missed my previous post with recommended stops for the first half of the South Hall, please click here.

Now, if I had to say, it really appears to me as if the South Hall, despite its overall size, is pretty darn light on MR safety vendors that I would recommend you visit. Based only on the number of recommendations against the total number of booths in a given hall, you’re better off dedicating your MR safety time to the North Hall, or Lakeside Center.

If you’d like to conduct your own virtual tour of the RSNA exhibit halls, they offer a wonderful interactive floor plan of the exhibit halls online. You can see which booths I failed to mention (and add your suggestions in the comment field, below), or plan your own itinerary for all three Halls.

I will, of course, be doing some duty in the Mednovus booth, 7801 (just inside the North Hall B entrance that is NOT right next to Starbucks), and I hope that you’ll stop in and say ‘hi’ to me or my colleagues. Depending upon how ensconced I get in those conversations, this list may turn out to be a bigger proportion of my RSNA experience than actually getting to the other exhibits!

Our company, Mednovus, is making the annual pilgrimage to Chicago after Thanksgiving for the biggest of all radiology trade shows, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. In my original post I indicated why I thought MRI safety would be a ‘hot topic’ at this year’s RSNA, and gave an itinerary for the North Hall (the Philips Hall) for stops at relevant vendors, including our company, Mednovus (booth #7801). Then I followed up with an itinerary for the Lakeside Center.

Continuing on that theme, and to facilitate your review of MRI safety products and vendors, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting a select group of exhibitors, this time in Exhibit Hall A, the South Hall, where the GE mega-booth is located…

The South Exhibit Hall (Hall A) includes exhibitors with booth numbers from 2500 – 6632. And while I won’t pretend to know what each exhibitor offers (so, clearly I won’t be able to identify all relevant MR safety products that might be featured at each exhibitor, please forgive any oversights), I would like to provide you with a short-list of stops that I recommend that you make.

Some of these are on my list because I know and recommend their products (look for the •), others are there because they’re new (to me at least) and I’m curious to learn more about them.

2517 Department of Veteran Affairs – OK, not really MRI safety, per se, but I have to take this opportunity to give props for their development of the MRI Design Guide. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and thank them for it.

2812 • ProScan – This booth is really here at RSNA to tout ProScan’s education and telerad services, but ProScan is one of the industry leaders in MRI safety. Stop by and ask them what they’re doing with ferromagnetic detection at all of their corporate-owned imaging centers. They’re really establishing a benchmark.

3237 CFI Medical Solutions – Manufacturers of radio-lucent and non-metallic patient positioning aids. They’re on my list because I’d like to learn more about them.

3242 Aadco – They offer a clever ceiling suspension system for MRI support equipment, as well a a number of accessories, such as procedure lights and injector arms, to go with the ceiling. I dislike that they trademarked “MRI Safe”, but I do want to learn more about their MRI products.

3407 Schiller – A Swiss company that offers MR patient monitoring solutions.

3800 Magnacoustics – Magnacoustics makes audio systems for MRI.

4029 • GE Healthcare – GE has been one of the industry leaders in MRI safety, which makes it all the more inexplicable as to why they sell plain-old metal detectors (specifically recommended against) as MR accessories, but don’t make available recommended ferromagnetic detectors. Can you find out why?

4209 Medrad – Medrad offers a number of MR patient monitoring / medication delivery products and is undoubtedly on your ‘short list’ of MR accessory vendors.

4604 • Iradimed – Makers of the MRIdium infusion pump system, which is damn nifty, what with it’s wireless operation and readout. How does that work through an RF shield?

4605 Creative Foam Medical Systems – Is it just me, or do there seem to be quite a number of patient positioning vendors at RSNA this year? Here’s another one I am hoping to check out.

Now, because the South Hall is the biggest of the three, I’m actually going to break here and will have the remainder of my noteworthy MRI safety vendor list for the South Hall in a follow-up entry, coming very soon.

As before, there are likely vendors not on this list because (1) I either forgot or didn’t know about their product offerings, (2) they’re ‘old standby’s’ that I’m already familiar with, or (3) they’re in a different exhibit hall.

Which segues, nicely, into my (repeated) disclaimer that the above list is just for the first half of the South Hall (Hall ‘A’). If you’d like to read my proposed itinerary for the North Hall B, please click here, or if you’d like to read the MR safety stops for the Lakeside Center, please click here.

If you’d like to conduct your own virtual tour of the RSNA exhibit halls, they offer a wonderful interactive floor plan of the exhibit halls online. You can see which booths I failed to mention (and add your suggestions in the comment field, below), or plan your own itinerary for all three Halls.

I will, of course, be doing some duty in the Mednovus booth, 7801 (just inside the North Hall B entrance that is NOT right next to Starbucks), and I hope that you’ll stop in and say ‘hi’ to me or my colleagues. Depending upon how ensconced I get in those conversations, this list may turn out to be a bigger proportion of my RSNA experience than actually getting to the other exhibits!

Link

Our company, Mednovus, is making the annual pilgrimage to Chicago after Thanksgiving for the biggest of all radiology trade shows, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. In my prior post I indicated why I thought MRI safety would be a ‘hot topic’ at this year’s RSNA, and gave an itinerary for the North Hall (the Philips Hall) for stops at relevant vendors.

Continuing on that original theme, and to facilitate your review of MRI safety products and vendors, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting a select group of exhibitors, this time in Lakeside Center (Exhibit Hall D)…

Lakeside Center includes exhibitors with booth numbers from 100 – 2225. And while I won’t pretend to know what each exhibitor offers (so, clearly I won’t be able to identify all relevant MR safety products that might be featured at each exhibitor, please forgive any oversights), I would like to provide you with a short-list of stops that I recommend that you make.

Some of these are on my list because I know and recommend their products (look for the •), others are there because they’re new (to me at least) and I’m curious to learn more about them.

108 Polyform – With RF burns being one of the fastest-growing sources of MRI patient injury, positioning / insulating pads have recently become far more important. I’m interested to see what this vendor has to offer.

115 Advanced Imaging Research – A specialty RF coil manufacturer with pediatric and cardiac coils. They also offer non-magnetic accessories.

124 LMT Lammers – Manufacturers of special infant / neonatal MR imaging devices, an MR-friendly incubator.

803 • West Physics Consulting – More than just a ‘necessary evil’ for accreditation, a good physicist can help extend the life of your MR system and improve clinical image quality. West is one of the top providers out there.

820 IMRIS – OK, not specifically about safety, but how neat is an MRI that travels into the operating room!

825 • Siemens – Siemens is now offering not only the Mednovus ferromagnetic detectors (see Mednovus at booth 7801 in the North Hall), but MR safety packages of support equipment! Seek out Siemens’ accessories representatives and ask them.

1202 Optoacoustics – Manufacturers of fiberoptic video and audio systems for the MRI environment.

1209 American Association of Physicists in Medicine – Let’s start a groundswell. AAPM published a guide on MRI siting and safety about 25 years ago, back when we still called it nMRI. Let’s get 100 people to ask them when they’re updating that publication (publication #20)!

1213C • SMRT – For MR Technologists, this is THE organization. Great educational opportunities, and one of our industry’s very few concerted efforts at advancing MRI safety.

1213E • AHRA – For radiology or MR managers, this is on-par with what SMRT is for Techs. (note: if you’re a lead-tech with one foot on either side of that line, get involved in both organizations!)

1213L AIA-AAH – The Architectural profession’s healthcare group really needs our help with regard to radiology. I’ll give you a dollar if you simply go up and ask them what the AIA’s position on the designer’s role in addressing a 277% increase in MRI accidents!

1302 Nova Biomedical – Offers a point-of-care blood tester for calculating eGFR for Gadolinium contrast safety screening. I’d like to see it.

1409 Brainlab – Like IMRIS, I just love the idea of intraoperative MR. I don’t know if they’re doing as much about intraoperative MR safety as I know IMRIS is doing. But I’ve gotta look at their latest toys.

1632E NORAS MRI Products – In RSNA’s ‘Germantown’ NORAS offers a number of specialty MR coils and support products.

As before, there are likely vendors not on this list because (1) I either forgot or didn’t know about their product offerings, (2) they’re ‘old standby’s’ that I’m already familiar with, or (3) they’re in a different exhibit hall.

Which segues, nicely, into my (repeated) disclaimer that the above list is just for the Lakeside Center, Hall D. If you’d like to read my proposed itinerary for the North Hall B, please click here. Time permitting, I’ll do the same for the South Exhibit Hall A (the GE Hall), though making that list will require reviewing the largest number of vendors thus far.

If you’d like to conduct your own virtual tour of the RSNA exhibit halls, they offer a wonderful interactive floor plan of the exhibit halls online. You can see which booths I failed to mention (and add your suggestions in the comment field, below), or plan your own itinerary for all three Halls.

I will, of course, be doing some duty in the Mednovus booth, 7801 (just inside the North Hall B entrance that is NOT right next to Starbucks), and I hope that you’ll stop in and say ‘hi’ to me or my colleagues. Depending upon how ensconced I get in those conversations, this list may turn out to be a bigger proportion of my RSNA experience than actually getting to the other exhibits!

To facilitate your review of safety features, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting a select group of exhibitors, starting with North Exhibit Hall B (the Philips hall)…

North Hall B includes exhibitors with booth numbers from 7000 – 9550. And while I won’t pretend to know what each exhibitor offers (so, clearly I won’t be able to identify all relevant MR safety products that might be featured at each exhibitor, please forgive any oversights), I would like to provide you with a short-list of stops that I recommend that you make.

Some of these are on my list because I know and recommend their products (look for the •), others are there because they’re new (to me at least) and I’m curious to learn more about them.

7019 • MagResource – Offers the largest (that I know of) online database of medical devices tested for MR safety. Subscriptions are paid, but they do make available a free trial period.

7524 Resonance Technology – Offers special audio and video systems for MRI patients. Not specifically safety, but if you’re looking for A/V products for your MRI suite, best to get them from someone who knows.

7708 MR Instruments – Again, not quite a MR safety company, but they offer a variety of MR coils that may not have come with your vendor’s ‘standard package’ of coils.

7725 Philips – Word has it that Philips is expanding their accessories catalog to include additional MR safety products. Seek out their accessories reps and ask them what they have.

7801 • Mednovus / SAFESCAN® – Right near the entrance to the hall, you may want to visit us, first, on your way to others. We offer some of the most effective / cost-effective ferromagnetic screening systems available, plus expert consultation.

8810 Composites Horizons – Finding positioners that are suitable (non-metallic) to the MR environment is always a challenge. I plan on looking these people up to see the range of what they have.

8940 Imprex International – One of the largest manufacturers of non-magnetic tools and hardware specifically designed for safe use inside the MRI environment. Particularly as we’re putting more equipment alongside the MRI, this becomes more and more important!

9113 • Covidien – Most often thought of in terms of contrast media, Covidien also manufactures one of the leading MR-tested infusion pumps.

9522 • Ernie’s Welding – These guys get a lot of funny looks (‘are you sure you’re at the right conference?’), but Ernie’s is perhaps the nation’s expert in fabrication of cryogen vent exhaust systems. Conduct a check of your quench pipe before you leave for Chicago and visit the people at Ernie’s booth if you have any questions about what you found.

9529 Wardray Premise – An MR accessories products company (that I’m hoping to get familiar with) based in England.

There are vendors not on this list because (1) I either forgot or didn’t know about their product offerings, (2) they’re ‘old standby’s’ that I’m already familiar with, or (3) they’re in a different exhibit hall.

Which segues, nicely, into my disclaimer that the above list is just for the North Exhibit Hall B. Time permitting, I’ll do the same for the Lakeside Center D (the Siemens Hall), and then the South Exhibit Hall A (the GE Hall).

If you’d like to conduct your own virtual tour of the RSNA exhibit halls, they offer a wonderful interactive floor plan of the exhibit halls online. You can see which booths I failed to mention (and add your suggestions in the comment field, below), or preview what you think my recommendations might be for the other two Halls.

I will, of course, be doing some duty in the Mednovus booth, 7801 (just inside the North Hall entrance that is NOT right next to Starbucks), and I hope that you’ll stop in and say ‘hi’ to me or my colleagues. Depending upon how ensconced I get in those conversations, this list may turn out to be a bigger proportion of my RSNA experience than actually getting to the other exhibits!