Lodox Systems Critical Imaging Technology - Full Body Scanner

It was realised that this technology had the potential to cause a revolution in the medical x-ray industry, and soon after the security break-through, the machine was adapted for medical purposes. At the time and even now, there is nothing similar to the Lodox scanner in the medical x-ray industry. The Lodox scanner is unique in its ability to provide a full-body x-ray image within minutes after a 13 second scan. The quality of the image is similar to the best x-ray quality available from conventional digital x-ray machines.  However, it is unique in the sense that it can obtain a full body x-ray picture with only one scan by the machine, where conventional x-rays can only cover a single section of the body per scan. (One would normally need at least 6-10 conventional x-rays to cover the whole body.) 

Ideally, in the diamond industry, the mines would have preferred to scan every miner on a daily basis to ensure that no diamonds are lost in production. This created the ideal background for the team of engineers who took on the challenge to design an x-ray scanner with an ultra low dose to be used for the frequent scanning of humans.

It was realised that this technology had the potential to cause a revolution in the medical x-ray industry, and soon after the security break-through, the machine was adapted for medical purposes.  At the time and even now, there is nothing similar to the Lodox full-body scanner in the medical x-ray industry. The Lodox scanner is unique in its ability to provide a full-body x-ray image within minutes after a 13 second scan. The quality of the image is similar to the best x-ray quality available from conventional digital x-ray machines. However, it is unique in the sense that it can obtain a full body x-ray picture with only one scan by the machine, where conventional x-rays can only cover a single section of the body per scan. (One would normally need at least 6-10 conventional x-rays to cover the whole body.)

1. Speed of operation

The Lodox machine takes a maximum of 13 seconds to do a full-body scan.  This is similar to the Star Trek concept of scanning - literally an x-ray beam that scans the body from head-to-toes.  As soon as the scanning is done, the data collected is processed and a full-body digital x-ray image is available for examination within 2-4 minutes.  This x-ray picture is scalable and the medical personnel can look at the full body in one glance or zoom into specific detail should they need to.  Also, due to the fact that the picture is digital, it can be distributed quite easily.

Conventional x-rays and CT scanners could give the same result but to get a good quality image can take up to 30 minutes and much longer to collate enough data for a full-body picture.

2. X-ray dosage

The Lodox machine uses approximately 25% of the x-ray dose of one conventional chest x-ray to create the full body image.  Dosage is quite a sensitive matter and the primary reason why pregnant woman and children are only x-rayed under strict conditions.  With the Lodox machine the danger of an overdose is taken away and both children and pregnant woman could be x-rayed without concern.  CT scanners are the worst when x-ray dose is taken into account.  Its dose is exponentially higher than the Lodox scanner.

3. Radiation scatter and machine placement

Authorities are very sensitive when it gets to the governing of the placement and operation of x-ray equipment as well as human exposure to x-rays.  The Lodox scanner have minimal (insignificant) x-ray scatter – in other words the entire x-ray dose utilised is used for the x-ray.  With conventional x-ray equipment rooms need to be specifically prepared for placement of the machine and operators are obliged to operate the machine from a distance protected by lead aprons and screens.  The Lodox machine is unique in that it can be placed in any room and operating personnel are not exposed to scattered x-rays.

Therefore the Lodox machine is normally placed within a hospital’s trauma centre.  Trauma personnel are able to resuscitate a patient while scanning for injuries.  Normally a trauma patient needs to be stabilised before he/she can be x-rayed.  With the Lodox machine the patient is scanned immediately on arrival and the trauma personnel know within minutes what the primary priority is to attend to.

4. Ease of operation

The Lodox scanner can be operated by trauma personnel.  It is not necessary to have specially trained radiologists to operate the machine.

• It is the only digital x-ray system that produces a full-body x-ray picture;
• It can complete an entire multi-view x-ray examination in 3 - 4 minutes;
• It detects unsuspected injuries in unconscious patients that might otherwise be missed;
• It allows constant critical patient accessibility during the entire exam;
• It’s low dose technology is the safest x-ray system for healthcare personnel and patients;
• X-ray dose used is estimated to be about 25% of equivalent other techniques (75% less dose is typically required);
• Its technology produces minimal amounts of x-ray scatter, thereby further minimising radiation exposure of patients and healthcare personnel;
• Its x-ray exposures can be custom tailored to meet the diagnostic needs of the pediatric patient (children);
• Its instantaneous x-ray exposure (scanning motion over the body) greatly reduces motion artifacts, thus the patient does not need to be completely still while scanning;

THUS:   
The Lodox machine is the lowest dose x-ray system ever produced and the safest for trauma patients, pregnant women, children and healthcare personnel.

Benefits

A flexible formal digital radiography system, designed for:

• Emergency trauma & casualty assessment
• Pediatric patient radiography
• Bariatric patient radiography
• High throughput general radiography
• Forensic pathology