Does The Age of C-Arm Machines Matter?

How old is too old for a C-arm machine? Refurbished and used C-arm machines receive consistent sales and rentals throughout the medical imaging industry. Some C-arm technology is behind the current standard that utilizes HD and Wi-Fi capabilities. Although conversion services are available to upgrade these older models, customers still inquire about what year the device was made.

Age of Software Matters

As alluring as it seems to know the date of manufacture and use that as a guide in deciding which C-arm to purchase, we can’t base that decision on age alone. For example, the age of a devices hardware doesn’t tell us much about the software alone. Just because a system has a recent manufacture date doesn’t mean the software will be set for current requirements in the medical imaging field of study. There are cases where C-arms such as the OEC 9800 can feature old hardware but updated software compared to C-arm equipment that has newer hardware that operates on older software.

Onboard DICOM Capability

The Onboard DICOM sends your images to your PACS server. The PACS server is a database that contains patient images, and it allows for multiple parties to retrieve and display these images on medical imaging software. The images are stored in DICOM format.

This feature wasn’t installed on all C-arm machines simultaneously, which means it’s possible for machines without DICOM to be newer than models that do have DICOM. Again, the date of manufacture doesn’t tell us the whole story of your C-arm. DICOM accessory can be added to models that don’t have the feature built-in but the process can be difficult to set-up because every network, machine and radiologist is different.

Component Mileage

As the old saying goes, “it’s not the age of the car that matters, it’s the mileage”. This couldn’t be more true with C-arm technology. Just because a C-arm machine is older doesn’t mean it has the same high-traffic use as a newer model. Every radiology clinic is different.
C-arms can experience wear and tear in two areas: external components and internal components. The external includes brakes, wheels, casters, locks, etc. The internal includes collimators, X-ray tubes and high-voltage tanks.
An older model C-arm could feature new parts–where the body has the years of use, the internal components are fresh and good to go.

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