MinXray Salesman Sets Guinness World Record for High-Altitude X-Ray Operation

Mike Cairnie has gone to great heights to improve healthcare.

The global sales director at MinXray Inc., has earned a Guinness World Record for the “highest altitude operating an X-ray machine” while on an expedition with both MinXray and artificial intelligence company Qure.ai. Cairnie achieved the world record on behalf of MinXray on April 21, 2022, while working with three medical professionals from Qure.ai to demonstrate portable digital radiography and its effectiveness at high altitudes. The foursome successfully operated MinXray’s Impact Wireless—a portable and battery-powered digital radiography system—with qXR Automated Chest X-ray AI Solution from Qure.ai. The artificial intelligence software can detect and localize 30 chest X-ray abnormalities, including Tuberculosis. The team took several sets of diagnostic radiographic images at the Mount Everest Base Camp in Khumjung, Nepal, at an altitude of 17,598 feet.

The group arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, and traveled by foot to the airport in Lukla. They then flew to the Everest View Hotel, situated within Nepal’s Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Everest View Hotel is the highest built hotel in the world at 13,000 feet. The team spent three days at the hotel for altitude acclimatization and made their final leg of the journey on April 17, 2022, to Everest’s southeast base camp, which rests at an elevation of 17,598 feet.
 
“Radiograph technology is critical for diagnosing several conditions, including bone fracture and chest conditions such as tuberculosis,” Cairnie said. “Until now, people who have medical emergencies in remote locations have not had access to this important information. We were glad the expedition went well and now this technology is proven at high elevations.”  With the addition of the qXR module, both systems can be used as a chest X-ray screening tool to detect signs of abnormalities.
 
Following Cairnie’s Everest journey, MinXray Marketing and Sales Vice President Jeanne Walter began the process for Guinness World Records submission. The initial application was online and required Walter to submit for a new record field and prove the record had been achieved. Guinness required several points of evidence verification to prove both the elevation and that the images were successfully taken, including references from medical personnel and witnesses, proof of expertise, proof of elevation, video of the imaging and equipment readouts among other items.
 
“I was impressed by the evaluation and vetting,” Walter says. “Guinness World Records took this just as seriously as MinXray and its process made sure that real achievements get the recognition they deserve.”
 
More photos of Cairnie’s journey, and the people and communities the team met along the way are available here. 
 
Since 1967, MinXray Inc. has been a global supplier of portable, compact digital imaging equipment. The devices, available as complete portable systems, can be used in multiple applications where it is more efficient to bring the X-ray unit to the patient instead of the patient to the X-ray unit. MinXray products are used in various medical, veterinary, and military applications. MinXray’s powerful, high frequency, lightweight portable units continue to be the “gold standard” for digital radiographic imaging.The company is based in Northbrook, Ill.