Calmette Hospital in Lille, France, is one of ten facilities that compose the Northern France reference center Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (University Hospital Center) of Lille. Being a hospital specialized in respiratory diseases, renal pathologies, and thoracic surgery, Calmette Hospital installed a Siemens SOMATOM^® Definition scanner in 2006 that is mainly used for the scanning of adult patients and related clinical research. In 2009, the hospital decided to also install a SOMATOM Definition Flash. This low-dose scanner now offers the possibility to examine children without sedation due to the very fast scan modes.
With the Siemens Guardian Program™ including TubeGuard, Professor Martine Remy-Jardin, head of Thoracic Imaging, and Patrice Podevins, Healthcare Executive, just experienced that they can rely on Siemens product and service quality.

One day, Podevins received a call from the Siemens UPTIME Service Center telling him that both tubes of the SOMATOM Definition were at risk to fail - tube A within five days and tube B within two to three weeks. “In view of the detailed documentation sent by the specialist, we decided to plan the replacement of the two tubes five days after the call”, explains Podevins. TubeGuard makes use of more than ten sensors to monitor the functions of the CT tubes via a real-time data flow with Siemens Remote Service (SRS). That makes proactive failure prediction possible.

“Thanks to this warning, we were able to reschedule all examinations to adjust our staff vacation plans, and to carry out examinations on Saturday morning instead of Monday,” says Podevins. By avoiding unplanned downtimes and workflow interruptions, patients satisfaction is increased. Podevins further states: “It is always very difficult to have to tell patients that the scanner is out of order – knowing all too well that some of them are critically ill. And this is exactly where TubeGuard provided the best possible support.” Because of the early prediction, appointments could be rescheduled and inconvenience was prevented. Thus, the Siemens Guardian Program including TubeGuard helps protect a good reputation and enhances the quality of patient care.