Most people associate LG with consumer electronics like TVs and washing machines, but the company is making a push into the healthcare industry as a solutions provider — and not just as a display vendor, noted Jim Salamon, the national sales leader for LG’s medical division.
The company sells display systems to give surgeons a clearer view inside the operative field and to help radiologists view and analyze scans, but it also makes products that support the broader clinical workflow, including lightweight laptops for mobile radiologists and nursing station units, Salamon pointed out during an interview at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual conference this week in Chicago.
He said that LG’s product innovation is based on clinical needs. For instance, in surgery, LG has advanced its image quality from HD to 4K and now mini-LED, and it’s extending its gamma and color ranges to deliver more lifelike visualization. This is a result of clinicians asking for higher resolution images and more precise, true-to-life colors that better reflect what the human eye sees inside the body, Salamon explained.
LG is also responding to the fact that more and more radiologists are demanding workspace flexibility or opting for remote work, he added.
“Radiologists want to be multi-tasked. They want to read for one hospital and another hospital, and some of those hospitals don’t have the same PACs systems. So we’ve developed workstations where they can have multiple systems on it but only have one diagnostic display,” Salamon remarked.
This hardware is lightweight so that it can support mobility and home reading, he noted.
In his view, LG’s advantages in an increasingly crowded digital health market are cost and integration. LG manufactures its own panels, allowing cost savings for hospitals that Salamon said are often 20–30% lower than competitors. This matters because large systems have to replace dozens of workstations on rotating schedules, he stated.
LG also designs its products to be IT-agnostic — the goal is to integrate into existing standards rather than force proprietary requirements, Salamon explained.
He said the company will continue to explore new technologies to meet clinicians’ evolving needs. Some of its prototypes in development include new curved display monitors based on radiologists’ feedback and 3D imaging tools to improve diagnostic precision.
It is still uncertain how much these innovations can improve daily clinical practice or patient care — but Salamon made it clear that he and the rest of the team at LG believe listening to clinicians and quickly adapting based on their insight is the key to creating impactful technology.
Photo: Victor Golmer, Getty Images
