Renewal of radiological equipment

European Society of Radiology (ESR)

In this century, medical imaging is at the heart of medical practice. Besides providing fast and accurate diagnosis, advances in radiology equipment offer new and previously non-existing options for treatment guidance with quite low morbidity, resulting in the improvement of health outcomes and quality of life for the patients. Although rapid technological development created new medical imaging modalities and methods, the same progress speed resulted in accelerated technical and functional obsolescence of the same medical imaging equipment, consequently creating a need for renewal. Older equipment has a high risk of failures and breakdowns, which might cause delays in diagnosis and treatment of the patient, and safety problems both for the patient and the medical staff. The European Society of Radiology is promoting the use of up-to-date equipment, especially in the context of the EuroSafe Imaging Campaign, as the use of up-to-date equipment will improve quality and safety in medical imaging. Every healthcare institution or authority should have a plan for medical imaging equipment upgrade or renewal. This plan should look forward a minimum of 5 years, with annual updates. Teaching points • Radiological equipment has a definite life cycle span, resulting in unavoidable breakdown and decrease or loss of image quality which renders equipment useless after a certain time period.• Equipment older than 10 years is no longer state-of-the art equipment and replacement is essential. Operating costs of older equipment will be high when compared with new equipment, and sometimes maintenance will be impossible if no spare parts are available.• Older equipment has a high risk of failure and breakdown, causing delays in diagnosis and treatment of the patient and safety problems both for the patient and the medical staff.• Every healthcare institution or authority should have a plan for medical imaging equipment upgrade or replacement. This plan should look forward a minimum of 5 years, with annual updating.