With its state-of-the-art equipment and dedicated staff, IQRAA International Hospital and Research Centre, in Calicut, in the Indian state of Kerala, was ready to put all its resources to work caring for patients hit hard by the COVID-19 virus.  To support the hospital with its triage and treatment, Agfa offered a trial version of the MUSICA Chest+ software for bedside chest imaging. By providing more details on pathological findings, the software is helping caregivers to diagnose chest X-rays, while enabling a fast, smooth workflow.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, all hospitals in India – private and public – have been called upon to fight the disease. IQRAA has a separate facility on its premises to care for COVID patients. The Agfa DR and CR systems offer critical assistance for triage and treatment, explains Dr. Hameed. “When a patient comes into the hospital, if they are ambulatory, we X-ray their lungs using the DR 400, and assess the severity of their infection. If they need intensive care unit (ICU) facilities, they stay in the main part of the hospital. Otherwise, they are moved to the dedicated wing. In this wing, we are using the CR 12-X for bedside imaging of the patients.”

To help with this bedside chest imaging, Agfa approached the hospital in the spring of 2020, offering its MUSICA Chest+ image processing software, as part of its #CountOnUs program. MUSICA Chest+ enables consistent, ‘first time right’ bedside chest imaging. The workflow is fast and efficient even for care professionals who are less familiar with mobile X-ray equipment. “We have found that, compared to routine chest X-ray processing, the opacities and lung details are better demonstrated with the MUSICA Chest+ software, thus helping us to do chest X-rays more efficiently,” says Dr. Hameed. “With this software add-on, the bedside chest imaging from our CR 12-X system is nearly as good as from our DR room.”

The installation of the software on the CR 12-X was very fast, and did not disrupt the imaging workflow at all, he adds. “The technicians only needed some basic guidance from Agfa on how to use the software; it was very easy for them.” Overall, he says, “MUSICA Chest+ is a very good innovation from Agfa!” “We appreciate Agfa’s commitment, support and co-operation during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Agfa’s solutions and the service have offered us significant assistance in facing the challenges,” he concludes.

Read the full testimonial here.