Radiodiagnostic and Interventional Radiology Department

The Department of Radiodiagnostic and Interventional Radiology (DRIR) provides many types of radiodiagnostic exams and interventional procedures to IKEM or other medical institutions; moreover, the department provides special service for complicated and serious cases, e.g. patients with multiple organ failure, transplanted patients etc. The department deal with complications following organ transplants.

The department of the Radiodiagnostic and Interventional  Radiology is divided into the following parts:

• Interventional radiology
• General radiography, fluoroscopy and ultrasound
• Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and clinical and experimental spectroscopy

Waiting times in 2019

The waiting/scheduling times of the aforementioned exams provided at the department (based on data from 2018):

All acute procedures are performed within 24 hours upon agreement with the radiologist.

All equipment is fully digital, computed radiography (indirect digitization) is not supported anymore. Here is an overview of equipment:

• Ultrasound machines, 1x the state-of-the-art Aplio 800, 2x Aplio 790, 1x  Aplio 700 and 1x  Aplio 500 (all from Toshiba), are used at ultrasound examination rooms of the Department of Radiodiagnostic and Interventional Radiology on inpatient as well as outpatient basis. The machine provides a broad scale of the most modern ultrasound imaging modes, for interventional procedures partly or fully guided by ultrasound.
• Bedside ultrasound – Aplio 300 (Toshiba) – a mobile machine for bedside exams provides high-quality imaging (including Doppler), moreover interventional procedures (drainage, biopsy, etc.) can be performed under ultrasound guidance directly at the bedside (no need of transport).
• Interventional procedures are performed using Artis Q ceiling  and Artis Zee ceiling (both from Siemens) – two angiography systems for interventional procedures (vascular as well as non-vascular) equipped with powerfull X-ray tubes.
• Fluoroscopic procedures are performed using Artis Zee MP (Siemens) – multi-purpose fluoroscopy and acquisition system equipped with the flat panel detector.
• For general radiography exams, ARCOMA AB (ARCOMA) and Aristos MX (Siemens) are used. ARCOMA AB is a new state-of-the-art direct digital system equipped with a physical antiscatter grid as well as a virtual grid. The system uses two interchangeable flat panel detectors which provide sufficient image quality (high spatial resolution and contrast resolution) at low patients’ doses. Aristos serves as a backup system for general radiography.
• Four mobile X-ray units – 2x X-ray systems Mobilett XP Hybrid (Siemens), and 2x X-ray systems FDR GO (FUJI), all equipped with a flat panel detector (direct digital systems) for use at intensive care units and for bedside exams. FDR GO systems use virtual antiscatter grids, so the physical antiscatter grid is not used anymore.
• CT – Somatom Definition Flash (Siemens) – 2nd generation of the dual source CT scanner with multiple detector rows providing up to 256-slices per rotation. Two X-ray tubes working at the same voltage enable examination of obese patients in an easier and faster way, also thanks to the gantry aperture diameter of 78 cm. Two X-ray tubes working at different voltage enable dual energy exam which allow material differentiation (calcium plaque vs. iodinated contrast medium). Tools for optimization of image quality at optimal doses are used – CARE Dose4D (automatic tube current modulation in angular and longitudinal direction), CARE kV (voltage may be changed according to the patient’s size, useful mainly for smaller patients).
• Magnetom Avanto^fit (Siemens) 1.5T full-body MRI scanner is used for modern clinical diagnostics.
• Magnetom Trio 3T (Siemens) full-body MRI scanner is used for clinical diagnostics and mainly for research.
• Biospec 4.7T (Bruker) MRI scanner is used for exams of small experimental animals and prepared samples.
• DRIR has a modern computer network that supports image postprocessing and archiving of DICOM files using PACS. PACS viewing stations are GSDF compliant. Online transfer and sharing of DICOM files using ePACS and ReDiMed around the Czech Republic is supported.
• An assessment of patients’ doses is possible because dose data from all exams and procedures is tranferred to the local PACS system. For patients’ dose estimates, two kinds of software are used: PCXMC is used for general radiography and interventional procedures, CT-Expo and ImpactDose are used for CT exams.