Quebec hospitals get new diagnostic imaging technology

Montreal, QC – A new dual x-ray imaging tool, now in use at the Centre hospitalier de l’Universit de Montral (CHUM) and the Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine, was presented last week by the CHUM, the CHU Sainte-Justine, the Ecole de technologie suprieure (ETS), the Ecole Suprieure d’Arts et Mtiers of Paris (ENSAM), Biospace, based in Paris, and its subsidiary, Biospace Radiologie Qubec.

The new imaging method, a novel dual x-ray 2D and 3D imaging system for osteoarticular structures using very low doses of radiation, has recently been installed in the radiology departments of Notre-Dame Hospital of the CHUM and the CHU Sainte-Justine. “The system provides the possibility of scanning 2D and even 3D images of the entire skeleton from head to toe with the patient in standing position. It also differs from other imaging techniques because of the very significant reduction in x-ray doses that the patient receives,” says Jacques de Guise, ETS professor, and founder/director of the Imagery and Orthopaedic Research Laboratory (LIO), the ETS and CHUM imaging and orthopaedic research laboratory.

The new radiographic technique will improve the follow-up and treatment of pathologies such as scoliosis, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. An x-ray instrument for use in orthopaedics and rheumatology, designed to perform 2D and 3D imaging of the musculoskeletal system, the system is the result of the work of an international multidisciplinary team and a partnership between the university, industrial and clinical communities. The device was developed by Biospace, in collaboration with the Laboratoire de Biomcanique (LBM) of ENSAM and the Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques (CNRS) of Paris, the LIO of the ETS and of the CHUM Research Centre.

The system combines a revolutionary x- ray detection procedure, simultaneous acquisition of two perpendicular digital radiographic views (front and side) by vertically scanning the patient in standing position, and computerized 3D reconstruction of the osteoarticular structures. It makes it possible to take x-rays in sitting or standing position, unlike CT scans.

The first prototype of the system has been in use at the CNRS biomechanical laboratory since April 2003, and another will soon be moved back to a Paris university teaching hospital. Previously used at the Erasme Hospital in Brussels, the systems in Montreal, which are installed at Notre- Dame Hospital of the CHUM and the CHU Sainte-Justine, have been licensed for clinical and basic research and will be available for clinical use in a few months.