PedCat® Foot & Ankle Imaging

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The limits of traditional medical imaging

Imaging technology has come a long way in the last few years. Advanced imaging such as CT and MRI scanners have become smaller, faster, and more accurate than ever before. There are still some problems:

• The majority of foot and ankle diagnosis is made with radiographs (x-rays). Radiograph technology has become digital, but at the end of the day it is still a two dimensional image of a three dimensional structure. This frequently leads to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis.
• Time: Hospital based CT scanners are off site, require an appointment and weeks of turnaround before the images are available.
• Radiation: Larger CT scanners also expose patients to unacceptably high levels of radiation.

The impact: slower time to diagnosis and treatment

All of these limitations add up to a delay before definitive diagnosis and treatment. Patients experience:

1. They see their doctor, who gets imprecise x-rays, and then refers them out for imaging.
2. They have to make ANOTHER appointment for imaging. If it’s at a hospital, it’s usually much more expensive.
3. They eventually complete the imaging study.
4. They have to then hand carry a CD-ROM (remember those?) to their Doctor
5. Their Doctor may or may not have the software necessary to view the images, and may base an opinion on a report from a specialist, who, while professional, has never actually met or examined the patient.

The whole time, they’ve taken time off work and put their life on hold while working with their doctor to come up with the best treatment plan for their problem. Sometimes, the initial diagnosis is incomplete, or incorrect, which can have huge ramifications.

A picture is worth a thousand words

CurveBeam® was founded in 2009 and is an American company specializing in the research, development, and manufacture of cone beam computed tomography systems for imaging the foot and ankle. Their pedCAT™ flagship system achieved FDA Approval in April of 2012.

The research has proven that CurveBeam® PedCAT™ is the best imaging system for foot and ankle, offering great imaging of bone and cartilage, weight-bearing studies, and high resolution, three dimensional imaging, and ultra low levels of radiation.