What makes something a medical grade monitor?

[AustinInDallas]

My company needs to buy new monitors for DICOM viewing. So what makes one "MEDICAL GRADE"?

I mean these guys just sit at home in a dark room and look at xray/us/mri/ct. Could we get the korean IPS then calibrate them?

Edited spelling of "sit".
-- stahlhart

how do you know it wasn't correct the first time?

 

[balane]

I mean these guys just sit at home in a dark room and look at xray/us/mri/ct.

I don't like to go at work either.

 

[BrightCandle]

Colour quality, contrast and calibration. Medical grade monitors specifically need to do very well at distinguishing close colours from each other, even at the extremes. If you look at a typical TN monitor and its handling of the grey scale around the blacks and whites you will find the colours all look the same. This failure to display the colours and shades correctly is problematic when a scan might show a slightly darker patch which on a cheap or poorly calibration monitor instead just fades into the background which is nearly, but not quite the same colour.

So when it comes to choose medical grade monitors its really important to ensure that the quality of colour, its calibration and everything else is spot on, lives depend on it.

 

[Stuka87]

Its the image quality. When looking at XRays, Mammograms, etc, the displays have to be exactly what they are supposed to be. Very wide viewing angle, correct color, no backlight bleed through, etc.

Very few (If any) consumer displays meet all those specs. There are professional grade ones that do, and they are probably the same as the medical ones.

 

[paul878]

My company needs to buy new monitors for DICOM viewing. So what makes one "MEDICAL GRADE"?

I mean these guys just sit at home in a dark room and look at xray/us/mri/ct. Could we get the korean IPS then calibrate them?

Would you want your doctor to view your Xray, CT scan, and MRI on an Korean IPS monitor?

 

[Grooveriding]

Resolution and colour depth. Remember that imaging results are not pictures producing accurate colours like a photograph. But as much deviation between various shades of what is being depicted is invaluable.

You cannot use a korean ips for imaging results being interpreted.... Expect to pay $25k a piece for medical grade screens.

 

[Kinyoris]

The image quality is average at best on medical monitors, they do not have the most accurate colors or resolution or even contrast. You're not going to find a 4k panel in a hospital.

Medical monitors tend to be reliable, they often use circuitry that is less prone to fail, they don't want a monitor to fail in the middle of surgery. They don't get "calibrated" on-site, seriously, what are you guys on about, they stay the way they are throughout their lifespan, they just make sure they're failproof and they make sure they get a good bulk deal.

Increased contrast is done in software btw, not in hardware, ultrasound software can do this. And to increase contrast with for example MRI, they use actual contrast, preps.

I wouldn't say they're bad monitors, but they're not the best by any means, hospitals have a budget.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Inreresting. I didn't even know there were "medical grade" monitors, but it does make sense that you would want the very best.

 

[Kinyoris]

Here's a top of the line medical monitor from Barco.

14ms response time, 250 brightness, 178 degrees viewing angle. That's average at best, average to bad compared to what a consumer monitor is like now. This would get a 1/10 on CNET.

But unlike a consumer monitor, Barco can make custom panels to fit rooms, that's one of their specialities. If you're rich and want a panel that goes 360 degrees in your bedroom, go ask Barco, they'll do it. Barco will have repair units ready to go, Barco has put these monitors to thousands of tests. etc

Hospitals want things that work, they're not alway looking for the best, they're looking for failproof hardware that has gone through testing, so their monitor doesn't suddenly break down in the middle of surgery, nor do they want a dead pixel to show something that isn't even there. They want something they can count on. That usually means older panes, that stood the test of time, BARCO will mass produce them and they make medical monitors from them.

 

[AustinInDallas]

Resolution and colour depth. Remember that imaging results are not pictures producing accurate colours like a photograph. But as much deviation between various shades of what is being depicted is invaluable.

You cannot use a korean ips for imaging results being interpreted.... Expect to pay $25k a piece for medical grade screens.

thats the prices im seeing. what makes it so much different?

The PACS allows every image to change contrast and about 20 other factors i dont even know about. Seems like the monitor isnt doing much of the work

 

[Subyman]

For 25k, just get two Korean monitors that mirror each other. If one goes out, you've got redundancy

 

[Grooveriding]

thats the prices im seeing. what makes it so much different?

The PACS allows every image to change contrast and about 20 other factors i dont even know about. Seems like the monitor isnt doing much of the work

The difference between high quality consumer grade and medical grade monitors is not enormous on the hardware side. In general medical grade monitors are without fail excellent high quality IPS screens with excellent accuracy. There also certainly are very high resolution, such as 4K, medical grade screens and they have their specific usage scenarios;

http://www.eizo.com/global/products/radiforce/rx840/index.html

The screens on stations are generally not very high res though and are measured in MP. 1,3,5 etc. Some are colour only, others are strictly greyscale. As some prior posters have said much of the cost is related to guaranteed reliability as well as what I would call a 'health care specific tech. premium'

It's not that you couldn't interpret a scan with a Dell monitor, and certainly you'll see clinicians in the ER using your standard consumer grade monitors to do exactly that. Where I work there are Dell monitors in the ER and they are used to look at imaging results. But when you have a radiologist tasked with what is a very high responsibility job you do not want to leave anything to chance. Particularly when you are dealing with MR results the quality of screen can play a bigger role.

Most interpretations are done on grey scale images and the best way I can explain why you want a good screen is using that example. On most consumer monitors you will see a degree of banding and a blur effect on a greyscale image. When your radiologist is looking at the variances and colours of a greyscale image to determine a diagnosis you do not want them seeing anything but a perfect reproduction of what the machine has produced.

www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/gradient.php

That test would give you a good idea of what you want to have as near perfect as possible reproduction of when you are dealing with mostly greyscale images at all times. Coloured imaging results via MR, CT, PET receive their colour via software, usually to highlight a contrast injection, and in those cases - particularly PET - you again want solid reproduction when looking for something like hot cells.

On the reliability front a good example would be if you are in the midst of a coronary catheterization procedure. A surgeon has what amounts to a miniature toilet snake through your femoral artery, up through your aorta and into your heart. You do not want the screen he is using to guide the catheter to suddenly die on him

Much of the cost is reliability, but the screens themselves are also very high quality.

 

[iCyborg]

Most interpretations are done on grey scale images and the best way I can explain why you want a good screen is using that example. On most consumer monitors you will see a degree of banding and a blur effect on a greyscale image. When your radiologist is looking at the variances and colours of a greyscale image to determine a diagnosis you do not want them seeing anything but a perfect reproduction of what the machine has produced.

This.
Gray-scale is usually one of the most important aspects. Even that Barco model that to the poster looks underwhelming, supports 10 bit, compared to 6-bit TN panels, or 8-bit IPS. And the difference between 256 and 1024 levels of gray matters here.

 

[iCyborg]

Most interpretations are done on grey scale images...

Gray-scale is usually...

On an unrelated note, I just learned that gray and grey are both acceptable. You live and learn...
http://grammarist.com/spelling/gray-grey/

I guess living in Canada I should go with grey, Canucks tend to side with British spellings.

 

[BeaviSKY]

I've worked with Barco and Planar medical grade monitors. 3MP resolution is usually the biggest distinction, along with calibration features. 5MP resolution is where things get really spendy, although I think that's only needed in limited scenarios like digital mammo. Radiologists also commonly use non medical-grade monitors, and tend to only need the additional resolution for certain types of reads. Although in a CYA world, it's probably best for them to do most of their final reads on a 3mp medical-grade monitor, even if they're personally comfortable using a standard desktop display.

I'd also characterize them as *less* reliable than desktop monitors. Granted, given a much more limited sample size.

 

[tential]

Is it me, or does the way the OP come off like he "lulz medical grade monitor? Why you need this?!!?!?!?!!"

To me, it'd seem pretty important. A doctor reading your xray on a subpar monitor would be like "Yup all good!" But you'd have like 25 broken bones and needed urgent medical attention (exaggeration).

 

[Stuka87]

Here's a top of the line medical monitor from Barco.

That is NOT a top of the line monitor from Barco. Barco has displays with FAR higher specs than this.

The above display would work for a desk clerk just inputting data. But for imaging the displays have to be far higher quality than what you posted.

 

[AustinInDallas]

Is it me, or does the way the OP come off like he "lulz medical grade monitor? Why you need this?!!?!?!?!!"

To me, it'd seem pretty important. A doctor reading your xray on a subpar monitor would be like "Yup all good!" But you'd have like 25 broken bones and needed urgent medical attention (exaggeration).

well when I have to order two for every doctor we have, there is a HUGE difference from 300 a piece to 30,000 a piece. Ive heard from one of the docs that really the only reason is liability. True is every doc misses something every once and a while, and if the other guy's lawyer finds out you were using a 300 monitor, it becomes $$ for them.

reliability isnt an issue really. I have dozens of Docs all reading at the same time, if one of their screens go out, we redirect the studys to the other guys.

 

[AustinInDallas]

LMAO!

First bullet point
http://www.barco.com/en/Products-So...mium-diagnostic-grayscale-display-system.aspx

 

[SKORPI0]

Here's one at 2560x1600 for $3499.

http://www.necdisplay.com/p/medical-diagnostic-displays/md301c4

But I wonder if those $699 Seki 39" 4K (3840x2160) TVs would be better. :\

http://www.amazon.com/Seiki-Digital-.../dp/B00DOPGO2G

 

[magomago]

It has to pass IEC 60601-1-1...general safety and electrical requirements for medical devices (paraphrased) to which most consumer electronics would probably fail.

Also, companies have to typically secure parts that won't be EOL for 5-7 years or so. Most consumer electronics innards go EOL within 1-2 years; hell entire runs are typically <24 months before they get discontinued. It costs more to get a guaranteed supply, and thus they can sell it at a premium.

Also, I think depending on the specific application, the ability to produce shades of grey is incredibility important, especially for clinicians reviewing images searching for things like breast cancer.

 

[BeaviSKY]

It has to pass IEC 60601-1-1...general safety and electrical requirements for medical devices (paraphrased) to which most consumer electronics would probably fail.

Also, companies have to typically secure parts that won't be EOL for 5-7 years or so. Most consumer electronics innards go EOL within 1-2 years; hell entire runs are typically <24 months before they get discontinued. It costs more to get a guaranteed supply, and thus they can sell it at a premium.

Also, I think depending on the specific application, the ability to produce shades of grey is incredibility important, especially for clinicians reviewing images searching for things like breast cancer.

Actually the old Barco Coronis pair I worked with had an hour rating they were considered good for. Then you were supposeed to ship them back and have them refurbed. Can't remember if it was the backlight or the panel itself that required that service. That was probably 10 years ago though, so I'm sure that's not the case anymore.

The radiologist I dealt with most did most of his reading on one of these, which I think he liked the best.

http://www.dotmed.com/listing/displ...ixel-planar-dome-e4c-4mp-color-medical/927098

He ran it under the imaging software splitscreened most of the time (basically emulating 2 monitors) but he could use all the real estate on one image if he needed to.

 

[zephyrprime]

For x ray viewing, we had special grayscale monitors that were very high res. Probably around the 4K resolution range. They cost a fortune but this was some years ago.

 

[aigomorla]

Would you want your doctor to view your Xray, CT scan, and MRI on an Korean IPS monitor?

lolol... if it was a LG/Samsung medical grade monitor sure...

Now if u said Acer... i think id ask for a second opinion from another radiologist when u told me i had something i didnt because the a pixil got stuck in the reading.

 

[exar333]

So someone spends $5k+ on a medical test and $2k+ on consulting fees/costs and wants the doctor to use a bargain-basement monitor for their analysis? LOL

Monitors are such a small part of the overall health-care cost, that you damn well better want the best when they examine your scans. I would walk-out in a heartbeat if a 'Dr. Nick' was staring at a Korean Catleap monitor and telling me what I did or did not need.