Calgary, AB - Calgary innovator Robin Winsor left the oilpatch to develop the world's first digital X-ray imaging technology, advancing light-years ahead of the way medical X-rays were made compared with conventional film-based systems.

Calgary-based Imaging Dynamics Company's (IDC) patented Xplorer™ Direct Capture technology produces affordable, safer, high-quality X-ray images in only seconds, compared with several minutes for systems using photographic film.

Winsor, IDC's Chief Technical Officer, has won this year's prestigious $10,000 Manning Innovation Award, sponsored by the Arthur J. E. Child Foundation, for his innovation now being used in clinics and hospitals, big and small, throughout Canada, the U.S. and increasingly abroad.

"The big advantage of our digital system is that it's much faster," says Winsor, who was trained in geophysics and built his digital radiography (DR) system prototype in his wife Elaine's veterinary clinic. "We can capture an individual X-ray in six seconds, as opposed to minutes with film."

IDC's system uses a cost-efficient Charge Coupled Device camera - technology similar to that in your digital camera and to the system NASA uses to capture images from the farthest reaches of space. IDC's Xplorer family of products quickly produces an image so visually sharp that it has more than 16,300 shades of grey, compared with only 120 shades with film.

"The Xplorer stood out in 'blind' image quality comparison studies, with unmatched levels of resolution," says Guy Morency, Manager of the cardiac imaging department at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

For significantly less cost than competing digital systems, IDC's technology eliminates the need for film and chemicals (including storage and disposal), cassette-based computer radiography systems, and expensive imaging plates. The company's DR systems also enhance safety, because patients typically require only one exposure to ionizing radiation to obtain a high-quality X-ray image.

The cost savings and health benefits of digital imaging systems, including remote telemedicine applications where images are sent via the Internet, are increasingly being recognized.

This July, the Government of Alberta and Canada Health Infoway announced a $189-million investment to digitize X-rays, CT and MRI scans across the province, to improve the quality of health care by providing doctors and patients faster access to reports and images.

In 2000, IDC installed its first DR imaging system in a chiropractic clinic in Calgary.

IDC now employs about 75 people at its Calgary headquarters and manufacturing facility. Numerous systems are installed in clinics and prestigious hospitals in Ottawa, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Philadelphia, as well as in Germany, China and Korea. The company also has licensed its technology to manufacturers in China, France, Spain, Portugal and Brazil.

Since 1982, the Ernest C. Manning Awards Foundation's annual program (www.manningawards.ca) has rewarded leading Canadian innovators with $3.5 million in prize money. This year's four major winners, being announced throughout September, will share a total of $145,000. All will be honoured at the annual gala awards dinner Sept. 30 in Winnipeg.