CurveBeam AI Cast

CurveBeam's Dave Rovner has an exciting opportunity for creative software engineers to break into the healthcare field.

If CurveBeam was a band, it’d be the Foo Fighters. How’s that for a hook? On this CurveBeam Jobcast, host Tyler Kern got the details on an open software engineer position for Pennsylvania-based CurveBeam, the first company to offer a weight-bearing CT for extremities which has transformed the field of podiatry and orthopedics.

CurveBeam Software Development Manager Dave Rovner explained: “The main guy in that band Dave Grohl was in another band, Nirvana, a pioneer in the music scene. So, how does that relate? Our CEO Arun Singh as well as others at CurveBeam come from another pioneering company in the dental imaging world and CurveBeam really extended that technology to the medical field.”

CurveBeam, a 3D orthopedic imaging leader in the United States, Europe, Australia, and China, is looking for a software development engineer to join its reputed team five days a week in Hatfield, PA. Rovner said the ideal candidate will have a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Computer Science, or Biomedical Engineering with a software emphasis, as well as two years of experience in programming Python.

Rovner said adaptability within this agile company is essential, as well as good communication skills within small engineering teams.

“Also, we want someone who has the confidence to present new ideas and challenge old ones,” Rovner said. “This is an environment that encourages that.”

Dr. Mark Myerson breaks down the mission of Steps2Walk and bringing quality foot & ankle treatment to the whole world.

When we sprain our ankle or break a toe, it's assumed that proper care is rarely far from reach. This isn’t the case for everyone, especially those who live in rural corners of the world. But there is significant hope for these patients with debilitating foot and ankle issues.

The philanthropic organization, Steps2Walk], offers life-changing treatments to patients all over the world. In many cases, the program’s surgeon’s have given permanently disabled patients the ability to walk again. We explored this forward-thinking organization on CurveBeam Connect.

Our guest was the esteemed doctor himself, founder and executive director of Steps2Walk, Dr. Mark Myerson. Regarded as one of the premier foot and ankle surgeons in the world, Dr. Myerson explored the operation of his organization, and how its reach is only expected to grow in the coming years.

“We are ‘Doctors Without Borders’ for the foot and ankle,” Dr. Myerson said when explaining the organization in brief; and if Dr. Myerson had his way, in coming years Steps2Walk would be just as much of a household name. With over 200 surgeons volunteering to participate in Steps2Walk, the organization is a force to be reckoned with. But the humanitarian program doesn’t accept just any surgeon.

Participants must be excellent educators, as well as highly skilled surgeons accustomed to deformities not often found in the Western world, like Cleft Foot. Steps2Walk aims to not only treat patients in need but to educate them on their foot and ankle health.

“Probably 80% of work that we’re doing is teaching.” Dr. Myerson said.

Steps2Walk is continuing to change patient lives and the way care is administered in a variety of countries with different health care systems. For doctors interested in participating in the program, or interested listeners wanting to know more, visit www.Steps2Walk.org.

Dr. Cristian Ortiz discusses weight bearing CT scans and gives insight to what's happening in foot and ankle surgery.

Orthopedics in South America are burgeoning as the number of foot and ankle surgeons begins to increase, said Dr. Cristian Ortiz [contributor page] of the Clinica Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile.

“We are growing up in sports, but we’re also growing up in the practice of all the different areas of medicine and medical care, and especially in orthopedic,” Dr. Ortiz said.

For this month’s episode of CurveBeam Connect, director of marketing Vinti Singh sat down with Dr. Ortiz, a noted foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon and vice president of the International Federation of Foot and Ankle Societies (IFFAS). Every month, Singh interviews doctors, patients, and thought leaders in healthcare technology to discuss how weight bearing CT solutions are changing medicine.

In the last five years, Ortiz said he has seen a growing number of foot and ankle surgeons, especially in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.

“Right now in Chile, we have 60 foot and ankle surgeons who are well-trained or formally trained in the States or Europe,” Dr. Ortiz said. “So it’s a pretty good number for an 18-million-people country.”

More orthopedic surgeons mean an improved level of care and skill for the specialty, he said.

“Medicine is practiced in different ways depending on where you are, which depends on your financial support, level of expertise, and sometimes even if you have the same training, people do things differently," Dr. Ortiz said.

Dr. Ortiz is preparing for the next meeting of the IFFAS 2020 in Vina del Mar, Chile, where 1,400 surgeons will meet to discuss weight-bearing CT, sports injuries, total ankle replacements, and other hot topics right now in the foot and ankle surgery.

“So it’s very interesting because when you bring speakers talking about the same subjects, you get different ideas because they come from different parts of the world,” Dr. Ortiz said.

Dr. Martinus Ritcher breaks down his recent study on the correlation between cost and expose time for CT scans.

In this episode of the CurveBeam podcast, host Vinti Singh sat down with Dr. Martinus Richter, MD, Ph.D.to discuss the results of his latest published study: “Results of more than 11,000 scans with weight-bearing CT – Impact on costs, radiation exposure and procedure time." This first-of-its-kind study examined the economic implications of CT scans versus radiographs for patients.

Dr. Richter is department head of the foot and ankle orthopedic surgery section at Hospital Rummelsberg in Rummelsberg, Germany and has published numerous studies in orthopedic journals.

While previous studies have sought to measure a CT scan’s accuracy and benefit in visualization, Dr. Richter's was among the first studies of radiation exposure, procedure time, and CT scan costs, both for the patient and for the institution.

As a result of studying 11,000 scans of 5,000 patients, Dr. Richter found a profit of 51 euros per patient by implementing weight-bearing CT scans. The study compared weight-bearing CT imaging to the combination of radiographs and traditional CT imaging.

In calculating the cost, Dr. Richter factored in the working-time cost of radiology technicians and insurance reimbursement for weight-bearing CT to payments for a combination of radiograph and CT.

In this episode, Dr. Richter also offered insight into his research and shared how he studied the radiation doses, his results, and what this means for institutions weighing all these options.

“The main cost of a weight-bearing CT is not the scan, the main cost of a weight-bearing CT scan for the patient is a bad outcome,” Dr. Richter said. “When we can finally decrease the percentage of bad outcomes with trust in three-dimensional imaging, this would be a lot of cost savings.”

Dr. Cesar de Cesar Netto joins Curvebeam's newest podcast to introduce who he is and discuss advancements in extremity CT scans.

For a premier orthopedic surgeon, you might be surprised to learn Dr. Cesar de Cesar Netto [contributor page] has never broken a bone. Even as an athlete playing soccer, the founding member of the Weight Bearing CT Society never sustained an injury like the ones he sees from his patients in his orthopedic work. “I was a goalkeeper,” he says chuckling.

On today’s episode of Curvebeam Connect, host Vinti Singh, Curvebeam Director of Marketing, sits down with Dr. Cesar de Cesar Netto, M.D., Ph.D. of the Hospital for Special Surgery to learn more about the Brazilian surgeon and researcher and discuss advancements in extremity CT scans.

Since the society held its first meeting in Berlin in 2016, the society has presented at several conferences and made significant strides towards its mission, Cesar Netto says.

Specifically, a recent imaging study of patients with adult-acquired flat foot, or flat foot deformity, found that 70 percent of those patients had some degree of subtalar joint subluxation and sinus tarsi impingement. Cesar Netto was a co-author of the study that used weight bearing CT imaging and MRI, as opposed to two-dimension x-ray imaging.

“The foot is such a beautiful biomechanical machine with so many joints that I always thought x-rays couldn’t really demonstrate to you what the deformity consisted of,” he says.

With hospitals' tight funding for new equipment, Dr. James Kraft is going mobile, bringing CT scanning to them.

Weight-bearing CT scans have many benefits when compared to a weight-bearing X-ray. The problem is that many hospitals don’t have access to these CT scanners. This creates a need across the industry for for better methods of imaging. On today’s episode of Curvebeam Connect, host Vinti Singh, Director of Marketing at CurveBeam talks to James Kraft, founder and CEO of The Standing CT Company, a provider of weight-bearing CT services to hospitals throughout the UK and Europe via mobile imaging vans.

“In the UK, there is very little money for capital investment and new technology. It was clear that the weight-bearing CT scan was superior to the x-ray. The question was how to get more of these into hospital in a way that was financially feasible," Dr. Kraft said. "So, we came up with a mobile solution that could go from hospital to hospital."

The mobile scanning unit has so far taken off with flying colors, and hospitals are beginning to adopt this structure. “Right now, we are doing a lot of one-off scanning days with our first unit. And the surgeons are very motivated to get it into their hospitals. They know the advantages," Dr. Kraft said. "We plan to have our second mobile unit by end of the year and two to three more by 2020."

The company is very focused on educating surgeons, radiologists, and clinicians about the units, the workflow of getting scans back to hospitals, and why mobile units are more cost-effective. To bring together all stakeholders, The Standing CT Company is hosting a full day conference in London on July 12.

“The event came from the idea of looking at what the industry needed to know, and our advisory board was very influential. The conference will have lots of sessions from experts about CT scanning, orthopedics, and more," Dr. Kraft said.

You can learn more about the event by visiting their website or Curvebeam's. Listen to the entire podcast to learn more from James on weight-bearing CT scans and what their mobile units will look like in the future.

Dr. Babak Baravarian tells his history with technology in the healthcare industry and what impact it has on the way he treats patients.

The medical field is always on the cutting edge of technology. New ways to examine the human body and ward off the diseases that harm it have come a long way and continue to evolve.

In 2003, Dr. Babak ‘Bob’ Baravarian, DPM, FACFAS, made a bold move by going completely paperless at the University Foot and Ankle Institute in Los Angeles, where he serves as the practice’s director and co-owner.

Baravarian also implemented a digital X-ray system, which at the time was very uncommon in the United States. This forward-thinking, coupled with a focus on client care, has allowed the practice to succeed and become a leader in foot and ankle procedures in Southern California over the last 16 years.

On this episode of CurveBeam Connect, host Vinti Singh chatted with Baravarian about his history with technology in the health care industry and what impact it has on the way he treats patients.

Food and Ankle Institute uses weight-bearing CT Scans instead of X-rays, and Baravarian said the former is becoming increasingly obsolete as new and more effective equipment arises.

Still, the doctor sees a few major issues with the state of health care today.

“What is wrong with our health care system is that the dollar is going into the wrong pocket. If you look at the quality of care, the biggest issue is you have a health system where the right hand and the left hand aren’t talking to each other,” he said.

On that point, Baravarian elaborated that the ratio of administrators to doctors has increased rapidly, which has raised prices while lowering efficiency and reducing the level of care.

Baravarian is excited to see how health care might change in the near future, and surely there will be new treatments and technologies leading the way.

Dr. Alexej Barg breaks down his recent research on evaluating syndesmosis and whether his findings could translate to a clinical setting.

On this month’s edition of CurveBeam Connect, Vinti Singh, Director of Marketing at CurveBeam interviews Alexej Barg, M.D. [embed contributor page], an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Utah. 

Dr. Barg specializes in the care of the foot and ankle, as well as reconstruction of traumatic injuries to the foot, ankle replacement, and joint preserving procedures.

Prior to coming to the University of Utah where Dr. Barg has set up a very impressive biomedical research lab, both in terms of size and the breadth of projects, he was the head of the Orthopedic Department at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Dr. Barg currently serves as a reviewer for numerous medical journals including Foot & Ankle International, Journal of Biomechanics, Clinical Anatomy, and BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, and is well published in foot and ankle replacement.

Currently, Dr. Barg is working with a variety of other researchers on a series of weight-bearing CT projects, including two cadaver research studies. On working with Dr. Arne Burssens on a templating method, Dr. Barg said: “we’re able to compare the healthy side versus the injury side and can detect very small differences in imaging using weight-bearing, which we’re not able to do using conventional radiographs and MRI.”

Give this podcast a listen to hear Singh and Dr. Barg break down his recent presentation on evaluating syndesmosis, his discoveries on the effect that torque plays in syndesmosis measurement, and whether this findings could translate to imaging in the clinical setting.

Vinti Singh, Director of Marketing at CurveBeam, and guest Dr. Francois Lintz, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon, explain why X-rays are no longer the gold standard for orthopedic imaging.

CurveBeam, the internationally recognized leader in Extremity CT imaging, is excited to share their new podcast CurveBeam Connect, a show where anyone interested in healthcare and technology can learn about the amazing new innovations that are affecting medicine.

Our host is Vinti Singh, Director of Marketing at CurveBeam, and today’s guest is Dr. Francois Lintz, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon at Clinique de L’Union in Toulouse, France. Dr. Lintz is a renowned foot & ankle surgeon, as well as: Scientific Committee Chair for the French Foot and Ankle Society, the Fellowship Committee Chair for the European Foot Society, and a Founder and Member of the International Weight-Bearing CT Society.

Dr. Lintz has been using a CurveBeam Weight-Bearing CT System since 2016 in both his daily practice and his research, and has found they're more accurate than the X-ray, which project images and represent a 3D structure in a 2-dimensional format.

“It’s not reality itself,” said Dr. Lintz. “When we plan surgeries-- we’d like to know exactly what we’re looking at. In film, it’s distorted by a number of effects and makes it more difficult for us in terms of angles, distances, and things we require to plan for a good surgery.”

Conventional methods, like X-rays, are thought of as the “gold standard,” but there has been a huge emergence of three-dimensional imaging in other fields and industries. The weight-bearing tool is a game changer, giving the ability to see the foot and ankle in 3D, in a standing position. We can see actual damage with a model that very accurately represents reality.

In this podcast, the two will talk about CurveBeam systems, the InstaX plugins, all the different views that are available, and how these views are available at the click of a button, without an X-Ray tech moving the patient and tube around.