Signs Your Hologic M-113T Mammo Tube Is Failing

Hologic produces the most popular family of mammography systems on the market today. They've earned this with a commitment to technological advancement and reliability in performance. Still, like any other digital mammo system from any other manufacturer, Hologic Selenia and Dimensions units have X-ray tubes that will eventually fail.

To help prepare you for that eventuality, we'll share with you what to look for as your tube ages, as well as what to expect when the time for a new tube finally comes.

Diagnose, Replace a Hologic M-113T Tube

Common Errors

Hologic's Selenia and Dimensions mammography systems both use the same X-ray tube: the M-113T. X-ray tubes (M-113T or otherwise) fail because generating radiation waves also generates an enormous amount of heat. As the heat wears down the internal components of the tube, there comes a time when it can no longer properly produce radiation.

If the heat-induced wear inside a Hologic tube is reducing or preventing its ability to produce X-ray radiation, there are two common errors a Selenia or Dimensions user will see on their workstation:

• Error 23 TUBE OVERCURRENT
• Error 27 FILAMENT OVERCURRENT

If either of these errors shows up, the likely culprit is wear and tear on the tube.

Getting By

If you see these errors you may be able to reboot your system, give the tube a rest, and continue scanning. This can get you by for a short time, but the damage will only get worse and the error is likely to come back more often. Eventually, the tube will fail altogether.

Tube Replacement

If you see Error 23 or Error 27 on your mammo system, you can save trouble later by acting early. Reach out to your service provider and let them know what's going on. They can get an engineer to your site before the problem becomes severe enough to stop your scanning dead in its tracks. If you don't have a regular service provider, Block Imaging can help. Our Service Team works with mammo users all over the country on both contract, and time and materials bases.

Block Imaging also has a Parts Team that can help you with a new tube. You can see the average lifespan and replacement cost of an M-113T here, or you can submit a request for a tube here.