Canon Medical Systems Introduces World's First Cassette-type Digital Radiography System; Portable, Lightweight and Easy-to-Use; X-Rays Taken From Almost Any Angle.

Business Editors, Health/Medical Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--July 31, 2001

Canon Medical Systems, a division of Canon U.S.A., Inc., has introduced the world's first flat panel cassette-type digital radiography system for medical institutions that provides hospitals with the needed portability to use with stretchers, gurneys and patient tables.

The lightweight and ultra-thin Canon X-Ray Digital Radiography System CXDI-31 incorporates Canon's X-ray flat-panel sensor unit. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a subsidiary of Canon, Inc. (NYSE:CAJ).

Weighing just 6.2 pounds and measuring less than an inch thick, the Canon CXDI-31 operates much the same way as conventional analog film cassettes. The key difference is the new system allows X-rays to be taken from almost any angle without moving the patient to the sensor unit.

The Canon CXDI-31 has a flat-panel sensor that comprises a scintillator and an amorphous silicon sensor plate to generate extremely high-quality, high-resolution radiographic images. X-rays that pass through a patient's body to the scintillator are converted into light that is "read" by the amorphous silicon plate, creating a 14-bit digital image, or 16,384 gray scales. The sensor features a 100-micron pixel pitch, realizing high-resolution imaging (approximately 6.5 million pixels) in a 9 x 11 inch format that makes the new Canon digital radiography appropriate for bone X-rays.

Canon's leadership position in digital X-rays developed with the 1998 launch of the Canon CXDI-11 digital radiography system (upright version) and the 2000 launch of the Canon CXDI-22 (digital bucky model). Using third-generation a-Si (amorphous silicon) sensor plate technology, the new Canon CXDI-31 supplements the Canon CXDI-22 system. This new combination enables X-rays to be taken of virtually any part of the body, and it effectively meets all diagnostic radiography demands. The systems are easy to use and provide scalability that permits multiple imaging units to be operated from a single control station.

When compared with conventional X-ray imaging systems and new computer radiography, the Canon CXDI digital radiography series has several significant advantages. X-ray images are confirmed on a preview monitor approximately three seconds after exposure. The easy-to-use and portability features contribute to improved health care efficiency. The technology streamlines the X-ray diagnostic imaging process by eliminating film processing and the loading/scanning of imaging plates.

Canon CXDI systems have gone on-line at more that 200 locations worldwide. The addition of the Canon CXDI-31, which is undergoing clinical testing at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, can help health care facilities create a truly comprehensive general digital radiography system.

The Canon CXDI-31 will be displayed for the radiology industry at the AHRA 29th Annual Meeting & Exposition in Las Vegas, July 30 - August 3. It will be available in the United States in October 2001. Cost will be less than $100,000. FDA 510(k) is in progress.

Canon Medical Systems was formed in April 1999 to provide medical facilities with a single source from which to purchase both Canon's innovative Digital Radiography and PACS products.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon, Inc., provides professional and consumer imaging solutions that give people the Know How to access the latest technology. The company's comprehensive product line includes networked multifunction devices; digital and analog copiers (color and black and white); printers, scanners, image filing systems, and facsimile machines; camcorders, cameras and lenses; and semiconductor, broadcast and medical equipment. Canon employs 12,000 people at more than 30 facilities throughout North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

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