Project Overview

Today, more than 70 million CT scans are done per year in the U.S. with tremendous clinical value. However, CT still has challenges with patients that have high heart rate, metallic implants, and non-compliant patients. The Revolution CT is able to address these challenging patients by freezing cardiac motion in one heartbeat, reducing metal artifacts, and offering the potential for sedation-free CT scanning. The system also offers benefits for sensitive patient groups such as pediatric, renal insufficiency, trauma, and stroke.

These days’ patients expect more. They want quick, high quality results in a low stress environment. By giving more thought to the aesthetics that the patient sees, hears, and feels, Revolution CT can help scan rooms feel less clinical and more inviting. And the technology inside helps deliver a confident diagnosis with patient safety in mind.

Current systems are compromised by generating either spatial imagery (the ability for an imaging system to discriminate between two adjacent high-contrast objects) or they deliver better temporal resolution (the precision of a measurement with respect to time). Revolution CT captures the best of both worlds, providing the clinician with diagnostic images that deliver both.

The technology challenge was to produce a detector capable of combining the best of both worlds in terms of capturing high-resolution images capable of discriminating various tissue, vasculature, and muscular skeletal throughout a wider scan area.

The design challenge was to package the ground-breaking technology into a smaller volume so we could increase the ability to install the system into smaller imaging suites. In addition, this is the first ground-up CT gantry design in nearly a decade. It had to signal something different, the cutting-edge of technology—something revolutionary. With this in mind we challenged the status quo of soft, rounded forms to minimize the overall footprint and create a more distinct, architectural look for the gantry.

Project Details

Design research and our philosophy grounded in empathy led us to prioritize the patient experience.

Revolution CT is meant to be symbiotic with its environment. Instead of being obtrusive, we utilized humanistic design elements to create a better end-to-end patient experience. By giving more thought to the aesthetics, we’re able to make the scan room feel less clinical and more inviting – lowering the anxiety for patients. Some details:

The overall shape and the natural wood grain panels evoke a more architectural look that blends into the surroundings to minimize visual size and patient anxiety.

Whisper Drive gantry enables split second scan times while keeping the system 50% quieter for patients.

Lowered radiation and contrast dose up to 82%, without compromising on image quality reduces patient’s overall exposure to radiation.

Soft ambient lighting throughout gantry and table to ease anxiety and moving around what can be a crowded environment.

Designers incorporated a pattern inside the bore (the cylindrical space the patient enters for the scan) to aid with anxiety and give the patient a focal point. Within the pattern are hidden elements, like a fish, a swan, a dinosaur—this helps actively distract the patient from the procedure. This thoughtful element reminds the patient that a person designed this piece of equipment and had empathy for how disconcerting it can feel to be inside.

User research led to new, patented features such as the small work area at the end of the table. The work surface supports a laptop or patient monitoring equipment (which previously might be laid on the patient or bed surface). Below the table surface is an integrated EKG allowing important vitals to be captured without additional equipment.

The large hoop handle is more prominent to allow easier access in emergency situations where a patient in distress needs to be quickly removed. Blankets or pillows often covered existing low-profile designs making patient access more difficult.

One of the largest design challenges was around the bore size. The bore size grew during the project (to accommodate larger patients) but we did NOT want to grow the external footprint. Packaging was extremely tight—while this contributed to the unique square architecture, it has a specific purpose. Maintaining this footprint allows the Revolution CT to be installed in many existing rooms without the added cost of construction for the hospital.

The new CT table is able to accommodate those larger patients, up to 600 pounds. This combined with the larger bore size allow treatment options for a whole new range of patients.

And because we believe the true customer is the patient, we wanted to incorporate such anxiety-reducing features like the “paisley” bore pattern, soft lighting and the increased bore size.

Beyond reducing costs for customers, many of the user features mentioned above improve the overall workflow for busy technicians, particularly in emergency room situations where critical care patients require CT scans to determine the extent of their internal injuries prior to surgery or other treatment.

Additional empathetic features include jewel-like facets on the control panels to allow technicians to locate and operate controls without taking their eyes off the patient (another contributor to reducing anxiety). Removable purple straps on the sides allow cabling and tubing to be strung from one side to the other without creating a trip hazard.

The unique combination of ground-breaking technology and design delivering best-in-class image capture with improved user workflow and a better end-to-end experience for a wider range of a patients is what makes Revolution CT such an exciting proposition for those committed to outstanding patient care and better outcomes.

Since it’s introduction and clearance from the FDA in April 2014, Revolution CT has exceeded it’s sales targets by 25% and overall orders are over 60% of our predictions. This is a testament to the unique benefits it delivers to both clinicians and patients.

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