Kodak Oncology Imaging Film System Wins R&D 100 Award

ROCHESTER, NY—The Eastman Kodak Company has been selected to receive the 1997 R&D 100 Award for its development of the Kodak EC-L film system for oncology imaging. The award-winning system provides high-contrast images for use in monitoring radiation treatment of cancer patients.

The award has been sponsored by R&D Magazine for 35 years. Sometimes referred to as “the Nobel Prize of applied research,” the R&D 100 Award pays tribute to products and processes that have revolutionized their particular field and impacted the way people live. Past winners, for example, have included the automated teller machine, the fax machine, the digital wristwatch, and antilock brakes.

The EC-L film system has advanced the precision of radiation therapy by allowing oncologists to verify treatment of tumors with increased ease and accuracy, the company said. The complete Kodak EC-L film system consists of Kodak EC-L film and Kodak EC-L oncology cassettes.

The EC-L film system combines fluorescent intensifying screens and a low-speed, very-fine-grain, high-contrast film emulsion. According to Kodak, the resulting images have significantly higher contrast—approximately four times that of conventional film systems—and show more anatomic detail (see images in the figure ).

The system was developed by three scientists in Kodak’s Health Imaging Division (see photograph ): Arthur G. Haus, director of medical physics;

Kenneth E. Huff, senior research physicist; and Robert E. Dickerson, senior technical associate for the Film Development Laboratory.