Clarté Imaging Solutions, Inc.
Letter from the President
Letter from the President
It is of great interest to me that in recent Journal articles, image quality assessment appears to play a very minor role in most cardiac catheterization laboratories. This is contrary to the fact that with the increased utilization of x-ray imaging systems for interventional procedures, image quality should be the highest priority beyond the patient’s care. According to statistics there have been more than one million interventions performed in the U.S. in the last year. In a recent editorial published by the three past presidents of the Society For Cardiac Angiography & Interventions, I quote them, "After all, invasive cardiologists succeed (or fail) in their diagnostic and therapeutic ministrations as a direct result of what they see (or don’t see)". In my discussions with cardiology imaging professionals I find this statement to be accurate. It is my observation that the cardiology industry needs to take this initiative as opposed to having mandated regulations imposed by regulatory bodies.
With the recognized need that a industry solution required a standardized image QA process driven by an independent provider, Clarté Imaging Solutions, Inc. was formed in 1997. To this end, Clarté played a major role in the NEMA/ SCA&I Cardiac Fluoro Benchmark Phantom development that is nearly complete. Clarté is pleased that it can now offer an image quality assessment testing program called ImageQA Services, which is totally compatible to the test method standard.
Clarte’s ImageQA Services program meets all industry’s criteria for image quality assessment, and offers site specific consulting services required to resolve the image quality issues facing cardiology service providers of coronary angiography and interventional imaging today. It provides the core resource for Clarte’s QA Consulting Services to support the customer’s imaging equipment purchasing process.
With these goals now accomplished, for the first time, users of cardiac image equipment can have access to an independent non biased data based evaluation of their imaging systems as well as consulting services for image system acquisitions. This will provide benefits to the user by meeting Industry Best Practice Standards, increase cath lab through put, more patient referrals, and greater physician satisfaction.