SoftView technology from Riverain Medical extends digital radiography systems from Siemens

Riverain Medical’s SoftView Enhanced Chest Imaging technology automatically suppresses the ribs and clavicles to improve the visibility of soft tissue structures in the lungs, allowing the physician to interpret pulmonary nodules with greater certainty.

Furthermore, as SoftView uses the existing chest X-ray to produce the soft tissue image, it eliminates additional dose and motion artifacts commonly associated with dual energy solutions.

Ribs and clavicles on a chest X-ray often make it difficult for the physician to obtain a clear evaluation of the lung tissue. Until now, radiologists have used dual energy technology to improve the visibility of the lungs. The technique involves the successive acquisition of two images consisting of a low and a high energy spectrum. The physician can then use these two images to visualize the soft tissue in the lung.

Siemens is now offering SoftView from Riverain Medical with Ysio, their latest digital radiography system. SoftView enables the physician to acquire a soft tissue image faster and without any additional radiation dose for the patient. “Patient positioning, radiation dose and inspiration can make the interpretation of a chest X-ray challenging. SoftView suppresses the ribs and clavicles on a chest X-ray to improve the clarity of the image, even when image quality is low,” explains Dr. Stefan Palmers, Ghent Hospital, Belgium, who is already working with the technology. “Siemens Healthcare's Ysio and Riverain Medical's SoftView technologies together produce optimal image quality.”

SoftView is available from Siemens as a one-stop solution with Ysio, but can also be acquired as an upgrade for other digital radiography systems from Siemens. The software can easily be integrated and requires no adaptation of the clinical protocols for chest X-rays. The products mentioned here are not commercially available in all countries.

Due to regulatory reasons the future availability in any country cannot be guaranteed. Further details are available from the local Siemens organizations. The outcomes achieved by the Siemens customers described herein were achieved in the customer's unique setting.

Since there is no “typical” hospital and many variables exist (e.g., hospital size, case mix, level of IT adoption) there can be no guarantee that others will achieve the same results.

The Siemens Healthcare Sector is one of the world's largest suppliers to the healthcare industry and a trendsetter in medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, medical information technology and hearing aids. Siemens offers its customers products and solutions for the entire range of patient care from a single source – from prevention and early detection to diagnosis, and on to treatment and aftercare. By optimizing clinical workflows for the most common diseases, Siemens also makes healthcare faster, better and more cost-effective. Siemens Healthcare employs some 48,000 employees worldwide and operates around the world. In fiscal year 2009 (to September 30), the Sector posted revenue of 11.9 billion euros and profit of around 1.5 billion euros.

Riverain Medical is a Dayton, Ohio based medical technology innovator that develops practical solutions to save and improve the quality of people’s lives, through the early detection of disease. The company’s technologies are designed to enhance the expert skills of physicians to improve patient outcomes without additional radiation dose or procedures.