92% of mammograms and 96% of CT scans are older than 10 years – Health Care

In public and private Italian hospitals, imaging diagnostic devices such as CT scans, mammograms and MRIs are getting more and more outdated, and there are approximately 37,000 of these that are no longer in keeping with the current level of innovation. 92% of conventional mammograms are more than 10 years old, as are 96% of CAT scans. A photograph of ‘large age’ was captured by the Park Observatory analysis of Diagnostic Imaging Technologies, in collaboration with Sirm (Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology) and Aiic (Italian Association of Clinical Engineers).

“Over the years – says Aniello Aliberti, Head of Electronic and Integrated Medical Services for Confindustria Medical Devices – the installed base has certainly been affected by a series of factors: limited investments and funding dedicated to healthcare, lack of interest in innovation in public procurement policies, and persistent levels and logic of reimbursement for services that It does not stimulate technological modernization, and we hope – and he adds – that this study will be a useful reference for identifying technologies that have a priority to intervene in the planned investments of Pnrr.

In particular, according to analysis based on data from 2021, equipment older than 10 years comprises 92% of conventional mammograms, 96% of CT scans (less than 16 slices), and 91% of radiographic imaging systems. Conventional fixed, and 80.8% of ambulatory radiography units

“Pnrr – says Antonio Orlaccio of SERM – had foreseen the modernization of the technology park by replacing 3,133 devices installed over five years. However, the resources of the plan do not appear to be entirely sufficient to offset the issues that emerged from the study. Investment in equipment alone is not enough, Adequate staffing and economic valuation of radiologists, technicians and nurses is needed to ensure the efficient and full functioning of the equipment.”

According to Giovanni Guizzetti of Aiic, “The availability of complete data on large diagnostic equipment will allow us, at the end of 2024, to assess the impact of Mission 6 c.2 of Pnrr, which provides for the replacement of 2,200 large equipment, as well as 900 ultrasound machines It is clear that a replacement plan that is based solely on the age of the device, without predicting how it will be used, in terms of performance and number of offerings, is at high risk of inadequacy.The aim is to reach a consensus among manufacturers, distributors, users and technology experts on criteria that define the technological complexity really necessary to produce a performance given and the amount of performance that makes having a large piece of equipment adequate.”