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Canon Medical Belgium Launches First CT User Meeting
September 28th, 2023
The first CT User Meeting in Belgium was a roaring success among Belgian medical imaging professionals, who used the opportunity to share their experience with the system in daily practice. VISIONS spoke with one of the organizers, speakers and participants to discover how this unique event can help professionals better face current and future challenges in medical imaging.
Charles Delaplace, CMSB, one of the organizers of the CT User Meeting.
The number of Canon CT systems has increased significantly over the past three years in Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium. Conversely, few training courses or conferences are organized for radiographers in the country.
Those were the two drivers behind the organization of the CT User Meeting, Charles Delaplace, Clinical Application Specialist for CT at Canon Medical Systems Belgium, explained.
“We wanted to propose a meeting of our users, with the aim of sharing the different work experiences, through scientific presentations. All the radiographers present responded favorably to the continuation of this annual meeting.”
‘We wanted to offer a meeting for our users to let them talk about their work experience through scientific presentations, and highlight the new expectations of modern imaging,’ he said. ‘The main objective was to ask our users for their feedback, and have them share examination protocols, patient management methodologies and procedures used in their department.’
The event was organized on Thursday, April 20, 2023 in the evening, at a central location in Brussels, to enable a maximum number of professionals to come. After the presentations, participants were able to exchange experiences with their colleagues.
The event was organized on Thursday, April 20, 2023 in the evening, at a central location in Brussels, to enable a maximum number of professionals to come. After the presentations, participants were able to exchange experiences with their colleagues.
Alexandrine Dubois, Vivalia, attended the CT User Meeting.
Excellent feedback
‘Many participants gave us a very positive response after the meeting, and said that they had learned new possible uses for their system or ways of optimizing protocols,’ he said. ‘We will therefore repeat this meeting next year.’ Based on the success in Wallonia, the board also decided to organize a CT User Meeting for the Flemish radiographers in fall.
Alexandrine Dubois, from Vivalia, attended the meeting with her team to learn more about the equipment. ‘We have been using an Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition scanner for a little over a year and we will work with the Aquilion Lightning SP system in a few weeks,’ she said. ‘Many of us were interested in attending the meeting in order to learn more about this scanner.’
“This event was useful for us, in order to improve the management and the quality of the CT examinations performed in our center.”
‘Many participants gave us a very positive response after the meeting, and said that they had learned new possible uses for their system or ways of optimizing protocols,’ he said. ‘We will therefore repeat this meeting next year.’ Based on the success in Wallonia, the board also decided to organize a CT User Meeting for the Flemish radiographers in fall.
Alexandrine Dubois, from Vivalia, attended the meeting with her team to learn more about the equipment. ‘We have been using an Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition scanner for a little over a year and we will work with the Aquilion Lightning SP system in a few weeks,’ she said. ‘Many of us were interested in attending the meeting in order to learn more about this scanner.’
“This event was useful for us, in order to improve the management and the quality of the CT examinations performed in our center.”
Alexandrine Dubois discovered the stroke protocol, which they had never used before. ‘It is not a typical management that exists between our department and the emergency department,’ she said. ‘It was interesting to learn more about it and have a concrete example of how it is being used in another hospital, in order to potentially implement it in our hospital.’
Jean-François Adam, Centre Hospitalier de Mouscron, discussing the Variable Helical Pitch scan protocol.
Jean-François Adam, Centre Hospitalier de Mouscron, speaker at the CT User Meeting.
Alexandrine Dubois and her colleagues were also pleasantly surprised by the comparative dose examples given by the head of the imaging department at the Children’s Hospital (Hôpital Universitaire Des Enfants Reine Fabiola) and, as a result, would like to adapt the pediatric CT protocols to use the lowest possible dose in children while still having a good examination that the radiologist can interpret.
‘We were also able to learn more about the different types of artificial intelligence that Canon offers on its scanners, including PIQE. This event was useful for us, in order to improve the management and quality of our CT examinations,’ she added.
Jean-François Adam, Head Nurse in the medical imaging department at Mouscron Hospital (CHM), was approached by Canon at the JFR 2022 in Paris and decided to join in at once. ‘We immediately liked the idea and wanted to participate actively, by giving a presentation,’ he recalled. ‘We agreed on the theme that we could address, namely vHP, an option that we have been using for several years.’
‘We were also able to learn more about the different types of artificial intelligence that Canon offers on its scanners, including PIQE. This event was useful for us, in order to improve the management and quality of our CT examinations,’ she added.
Jean-François Adam, Head Nurse in the medical imaging department at Mouscron Hospital (CHM), was approached by Canon at the JFR 2022 in Paris and decided to join in at once. ‘We immediately liked the idea and wanted to participate actively, by giving a presentation,’ he recalled. ‘We agreed on the theme that we could address, namely vHP, an option that we have been using for several years.’
“Having the chance to collaborate with a very dynamic team, we immediately liked the idea (of a CT user meeting) and expressed to Mr Delaplace our great motivation to participate actively, in particular by making a presentation.”
Showcasing a new protocol
At the CT User Meeting, Jean-François Adam described the variable Helical parameters (vHP) option and how its possible applications - vHP Optimal Gating, vHP Optimal speed and vHP Optimal SUREExposure - have allowed his team to obtain important benefits for both patients and staff.
With the help of Canon, the CHM, which recently became the first general hospital in Europe to have received Diamond level accreditation by Accreditation Canada, an independent organization that evaluates the quality and safety of healthcare services, has created a thoracic-adomino-pelvic CT acquisition protocol called vHP-onco.
Timotée Delchambre, Head radiographer ‘Medical imaging’, from Children’s Hospital Huderf.
A delegation from Centre Hospitalier EpiCURA with their newly acquired CT User Meeting attendance certificate.
The protocol adapts its table speed and 3D SUREExposure to the anatomical zone approached during a single acquisition: Helical Pitch (HP) Fast and SUREExposure 3D Low Dose in the thorax; HP Standard and SUREExposure 3D High Quality in the upper abdomen; and HP Fast and SUREExposure 3D Standard in the pelvis.
Compared to a standard thoracoabdominal protocol, which requires two acquisitions, vHP-onco reduces the need for a separate acquisition over the upper abdomen, by injecting the iodinated contrast at a low rate (1.5ml/s) and starting the acquisition 65 seconds from the start of the injection.
‘We obtain a hybrid arterial and portal injection in a single acquisition, which brings certain ergonomics to the radiologist, who no longer has to juggle between the different series of images to be loaded in the MPR (MultiPlanar Reformation) application for review in different planes,’ he said. ‘The vHP protocol enables optimization of dose and image quality according to the anatomical region studied, and avoid an additional acquisition in the upper abdomen compared to a standard thoraco-abdo-pelvic protocol, which is not negligible during repeated CT scans in oncological follow-up,’ he added.
The protocol also enables a 25.11% decrease in average DLP compared to a standard thoracic-abdominal-pelvic CT protocol, and helps reduce the iodinated contrast injection rate for more safety and comfort.
‘A care pathway has been set up in collaboration with the day hospital, which prepares our patients with an IV Catheter for the injection,’ Jean-François Adam said. ‘This improves comfort for the patient and the team, with better fluidity in the scanner department and making the display of MPRs more ergonomic for the radiologist.’
Providing care in a safe, effective, efficient and respectful manner remains a challenge in daily practice, he explained. ‘We need to be able to adapt to the needs of the population and ensure equal access to care to all,’ he added.
The medical and nursing team is dynamic and constantly looking for innovative ways to optimize workflow and patient care. To do this, ‘continuous training, updating, discovering different practices and horizons, particularly through events such as the CT User Meeting, are mandatory,’ he concluded.
Compared to a standard thoracoabdominal protocol, which requires two acquisitions, vHP-onco reduces the need for a separate acquisition over the upper abdomen, by injecting the iodinated contrast at a low rate (1.5ml/s) and starting the acquisition 65 seconds from the start of the injection.
‘We obtain a hybrid arterial and portal injection in a single acquisition, which brings certain ergonomics to the radiologist, who no longer has to juggle between the different series of images to be loaded in the MPR (MultiPlanar Reformation) application for review in different planes,’ he said. ‘The vHP protocol enables optimization of dose and image quality according to the anatomical region studied, and avoid an additional acquisition in the upper abdomen compared to a standard thoraco-abdo-pelvic protocol, which is not negligible during repeated CT scans in oncological follow-up,’ he added.
The protocol also enables a 25.11% decrease in average DLP compared to a standard thoracic-abdominal-pelvic CT protocol, and helps reduce the iodinated contrast injection rate for more safety and comfort.
‘A care pathway has been set up in collaboration with the day hospital, which prepares our patients with an IV Catheter for the injection,’ Jean-François Adam said. ‘This improves comfort for the patient and the team, with better fluidity in the scanner department and making the display of MPRs more ergonomic for the radiologist.’
Providing care in a safe, effective, efficient and respectful manner remains a challenge in daily practice, he explained. ‘We need to be able to adapt to the needs of the population and ensure equal access to care to all,’ he added.
The medical and nursing team is dynamic and constantly looking for innovative ways to optimize workflow and patient care. To do this, ‘continuous training, updating, discovering different practices and horizons, particularly through events such as the CT User Meeting, are mandatory,’ he concluded.
The team representing Canon Medical Systems Belgium at the CT User Meeting.
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