Buying a banana is simple. It costs what it costs and there is no hiding the fact that it is yellow or green.
Buying a digital radiography machine is not like buying a banana and it just got more complicated and messy thanks to the fact that is can be nearly impossible to compare apples to apples.
The following quiz will demonstrate this point. Here is a hint...if you pass on the first try you have mystical powers and you should be in a reality TV show, you are me, or you are a digital radiography salesperson. The names of the systems and vendors have been altered to protect the innocent.
Question 1: Which of the following systems has the best veterinary digital radiography hardware? These systems are sold by different vendors.
- System 1: The VETDXDRVETVETDigitalVET*: this is a 9MP CCD system that offers the veterinarian a whopping 3.8 line pairs of resolution and sells for $68K
- System 2: The UltraDVXDRvetdigitalrad: This is a 9MP CCD system that offers the veterinarian a remarkable 4.2 line pairs of resolution and sells for $68K
- System 3: This is the VetDXdigtalrad: This is a 9MP CCD system that offers the veterinarian a stellar 3.4 line pairs of resolution and sells for $68K
If you chose the system with the highest LPMM rating you would likely be wrong. The answer to question 1 is a trick question. It does not matter which system you buy.These three systems use the same exact digital radiography hardware and software as it is made by the same manufacturer. Many of the CCD systems on the veterinary market are basically a CCD digital system made by a company that OEM's their digital device to another company who takes the device and places in an x-ray machine. I am sure I am going to get hate mail for the following statement but for the most part, the x-ray machines used in these digital systems will all work for just about any private practice veterinary installation as the demands places on an x-ray machine in the veterinary practice are not that great.
If you find yourself in the situation of comparing three CCD systems that are essentially similar, you need to keep digging as these machines are not quite the same. CCD vendors differentiate themselves in two ways. First, they ship their digital systems with imaging presets that they generate AFTER the receive the system from the manufacturer. This "secret special sauce" offered by the vendors is really what differentiates these machines. The second differentiator is quality and cost of the service and support as provided by the vendor.
But, the LMPP values in question 1 are different you say. That is correct. Because there is no objective measure vendors use when determining resolution they are at liberty to devise their own testing schemes and fabricate their own specifications. In one case that I am aware of, the vendor used software that they did not even sell with the digital system in order to determine the resolution of the system. The only objective measure of resolution we are aware of are the LPMM phantoms obtained at the SHOWDOWN. If the vendor is not a SHOWDOWN participant, unfortunately, there is no good way to test the vendor's claims. Support your SHOWDOWN vendors because they hold themselves to a higher standard.
Question 2: Which of the following systems should the veterinarian buy? These systems are sold by different vendors
- Vendor 1: The digtalVETCR; This is a CR system that is fully DICOM compliant, has 3.4LPMM resolution, and the plates are guaranteed for 100K uses. The cost is $49K
- Vendor 2: The digitalVetCR: this is a CR system is a CR system that is fully DICOM compliant, has 3.4LPMM resolution, and the plates are guaranteed for 100K uses. The cost is $42K
Although the systems appear identical and even have THE SAME EXACT NAME they are wholly and entirely different and once you dig a little deeper you realize that the only thing they share in common is the name and hardware use to acquire the images.
Recently, CR manufacturers began licensing out their hardware and name to third party vendors. These vendors then take these hardware devices and change out the software used to acquire images, the software used to process the images, and the software used to distribute images around the hospital. Remembering that the "special sauce" is what really differentiates a system, it is clear that you cannot shop for a CR system by name alone.
Remember, even though the name is exactly the same, the images from these systems, as well as the software functionality may be 100% different. In this case, the reason why one system is more expensive than the other is because the software features and images are different (some would say better) than the other system.
The real problem when shopping for a CR machine, therefore becomes how do you know if the difference in price is because there is a difference in the system or the vendor is just asking you for a higher price? It can be extremely difficult. I recently spent an entire afternoon tracking down the differences between 2 systems with the same name that a veterinarian presented to me. This required 7 phone calls (2 to the veterinarian, 2 to the vendor, 2 to the OEM, and 1 to the manufacturer, 2 arguments, 3 faxes, 1 conference call, and 6 emails.
Bottom line: Shopping for a veterinary digital radiography system can be difficult. With CCD systems you may find similar systems with different names. With CR systems you may find different systems with the same name. Good luck you are going to need it.
*Naming veterinary digital radiography systems is pretty simple. All you need to do is pair up the words vet, DR, DX, digital, rad, in any combination of capital and lower case letters and you have the name of a system. Don't know what I mean- start shopping for a digital radiography system and you will. The names of these systems are all so similar. Come on vendors get creative. How about some cool names for these systems?
