Market introduction

A challenge in today´s health care is to combine an increased productivity with an increased quality of care. We believe that the use of computer-based decision-support systems is one, vital way to meet this challenge.

There are several reasons why the demand for decision support and diagnostic aid will increase in the near future.

  • Difference in experience in the field of image analysis and diagnosis creates a demand for expert knowledge
  • New organization within the health care sector with focus on multi-disciplinary image analysis
  • A growing demand from a population with more elderly people must be met

EXINI Diagnostics brings you a user-friendly and easily accessible expert.

  • Image analysis and decision support offering increased diagnosis accuracy and patient security
  • User-friendly and easily accessible software that is easily implemented into the daily work flow of the clinic, improving patient turn-around time
  • Expert knowledge available at your desk. Around the clock. Every day. All year round. 

Market drivers

Studies from the American College of Radiology project a continued acute shortage of radiologists until 2018 and indications show the same trend in Europe and Asia Pacific. At the same time we are observing an increased complexity of imaging procedures and higher levels of data generated. These factors could influence the demand on automatic decision-support systems.

A recent American review of decision-support systems, showed four important features of the clinical decision-support systems that improved clinical practice:
 

  • Preference for computer based decision-support, rather than manual
  • Automatic provision of decision support as part of clinical workflow
  • Provision of decision support at the time and location of decision-making
  • Provision of recommendations rather than assessments only

EXINI Diagnotics’ objective is to meet and support these features through advanced CAD technology and image analysis. We assist the health care system to create financial savings by avoiding unnecessary examinations and by identifying patients who will benefit from specific forms of treatment.

Improved Quality

Clinical decision-support systems have been shown to improve clinical practice. Medical errors occur, sometimes due to the complexity of images and this can affect the way treatment is administrated, thereby potentially harming patients. Furthermore, errors are costly for the health care system.

We have found that physicians benefit from the advice of our decision-support system, measured through both improved performance (more correct interpretations) and increased consensus among clinicians. The computer does not produce different interpretations on different days for the same images, as could be the case with human experts.

Time-Saving

Hardware development in the field of medical imaging has resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of images produced at any imaging department. Today, approximately four times as many images are produced compared to the level 10 years ago. Three-dimensional techniques such as SPECT, PET, CT, and magnetic resonance imaging have become widely used, and these images are now produced at a higher speed.

The number of physicians, however, has not increased at the same pace over the same time period, and consequently the number of images each physician has to analyse has increased substantially. Decision-support systems like those of the EXINI family are aimed to reduce the time it takes a physician to interpret each patient’s examination. This is particularly the case for a system with integrated report generation like the EXINI products.