Abstract
This paper describes the development of a novel medical x-ray imaging system adapted to the needs and constraints of low- and middle-income countries. The developed system is based on an indirect conversion chain: a scintillator plate produces visible light when excited by the x rays, and then, a calibrated multi-camera architecture converts the visible light from the scintillator into a set of digital images. The partial images are then unwarped, enhanced, and stitched through parallel field programmable gate array processing units and specialized software. All the detector components were carefully selected focusing on optimizing the system's image quality, robustness, cost-effectiveness, and capability to work in harsh tropical environments. With this aim, different customized and commercial components were characterized. The resulting detector can generate high quality medical diagnostic images with detective quantum efficiency levels up to 60% (@2.34 μGy), even under harsh environments, i.e., 60 °C and 98% humidity.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than two thirds of the world’s population does not have access to essential x-ray imaging equipment.1 This “global radiology gap” does not attract as much attention as infectious-disease outbreaks or natural disasters, but it can be as dangerous to the public health and can affect “the entire global health care system.”2 Too often in lowand medium-income countries (LMICs), patients die of trivial problems, which could not be treated properly, or were left untreated, due to a lack of access to proper diagnosis
The developed system is based on an indirect conversion chain: a scintillator plate produces visible light when excited by the x rays, and a calibrated multi-camera architecture converts the visible light from the scintillator into a set of digital images
The developed system is based on an indirect conversion chain: a scintillator plate produces visible light when excited by the x rays, and a matrix of the developed multi-camera modules converts the visible light from the scintillator into a set of digital images
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than two thirds of the world’s population does not have access to essential x-ray imaging equipment. This “global radiology gap” does not attract as much attention as infectious-disease outbreaks or natural disasters, but it can be as dangerous to the public health and can affect “the entire global health care system.” Too often in lowand medium-income countries (LMICs), patients die of trivial problems, which could not be treated properly, or were left untreated, due to a lack of access to proper diagnosis. When addressing the issue of access to medical technology in LMICs, the main considered factor is the economy, i.e., the purchasing cost This leads to “well intended” donations of medical equipment that is not adapted to the local context. Such donations are useless but they can “actively inhibit healthcare delivery and further burden healthcare providers.” As a result, “medical equipment graveyards” of obsolete or broken donated biomedical equipment are commonly seen in hospitals across LMICs.. Our methodology relies on three pillars: (1) cooperation and co-creation with local stakeholders in Cameroon (user centered design), (2) interdisciplinarity, with the participation of engineers, radiologists, radiographers, anthropologists, designers, etc., and (3) entrepreneurship, as the output of the academic work provided the basis for an award-winning start-up company
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