Imaging Dynamics shows strong financial, product performance

Company offers low-cost DR alternatives to CR

Two years after launching its first CCD-based digital radiography product, Imaging Dynamics is enjoying the fruits of a market that is shifting gradually away from computed radiography and toward DR. The company reported its first profitable quarter since it was founded 12 years ago and expanded its product line with three new releases introduced at the RSNA meeting. Company executives expect to double the firm's installed base by mid-2005.

Preliminary results of fourth quarter operations, announced Jan. 12, indicate that company revenues increased to $3 million, an 88% rise over the previous quarter. For 2003, total revenues were $6.6 million.

Imaging Dynamics' competitive advantage is cost. Its products cost substantially less than other DR systems, partly because the detectors built into them cost less to make, according to Darryl Stein, president and CEO of the Calgary, Alberta-based firm.

Although still in the early days of commercializing its product lines, Imaging Dynamics has shipped between 50 and 60 units throughout the U.S. and the world. Its goal is to boost that total to 100 units by mid-2005. A customer base at that level will put Imaging Dynamics on an equal footing with other DR vendors, Stein said.

The Xplorer product line, consisting initially of the Xplorer 1700, which was introduced at the 2001 RSNA meeting, has acquired two new models, the 1800 and 1500 DR systems, as well as the Magellan 2 acquisition workstation.

Xplorer 1800 has a universal stand that combines automated detector positioning with a fully integrated workstation. The general DR system can be repositioned for performing standing ankle and skeletal examinations and swiveled to do table work by using a touchscreen panel, remote control, or the workstation keyboard. Xplorer 1500 has a vertical stand that is suitable for routine chest and upright examinations. Both systems utilize the company's patented digital detector technology, very high density charge-coupled device (VHD-CCD), to acquire radiographic images in a resolution matrix of 17 million continuous pixels and at a 14-bit digitization with a spatial resolution of 4.6 line pairs per millimeter.

Magellan 2, which was developed exclusively for the Xplorer line, offers adjustable image enhancement routines for customizing images to meet specific customer needs. The workstation is DICOM 3.0 compliant and features tissue equalization, autocrop and autoshutter, image preview in less than 10 seconds, and pixel-optimized dosing for increasing dose efficiency or improving image resolution.

The company also introduced a new table, which was built by Quantum Medical Imaging with a 700-pound capacity and a four-way float.

In comparison with flat-panel DR systems at $300,000 to $350,000, Imaging Dynamics' CCD alternatives are cost-effective. Xplorer 1800 retails for $180,000 as a retrofit or room upgrade. As a full-room installation, which includes the table and 80-kilowatt generator, Xplorer 1800's price rises to $250,000 to $275,000. Full-room installations are done in partnership with Siemens Medical Systems for overhead suspension and CTI for generators.

Xplorer 1500 can be installed as an upgrade for under $120,000 or in conjunction with a floor-mounted Servo-driven tube for $160,000. The new table retails for under $20,000.

With prices at those levels, Stein believes his biggest competitors aren't other DR manufacturers.

"Our biggest competitor is CR," he said. "If we can get DR at a 20% to 30% premium over CR, people will make the jump. The goal of our company is to get our products to price points that can't be ignored, even when you are considering CR."