Overall unaudited attendance at the 2008 Radiological Society of North America was down compared with last year, according to Thursday’s figures. But exhibitor registration took the hardest hit.

Siemens Healthcare unveiled a breast ultrasound system at RSNA 2008 whose automated exams could help women’s health practitioners achieve the potential of ultrasound as a complement to mammography.

Siemens underscored its commitment to women’s health with its introduction at RSNA 2008 of Espree Pink, a 1.5T scanner dedicated to breast imaging.

Discovery PET/CT 600 debuted at the RSNA meeting, taking a midtier position in GE Healthcare’s family of hybrid devices.

Breaking with its past dependence on phosphor-based computed radiography plates, Fujifilm featured a flat-panel digital radiography system at the RSNA 2008 meeting.

Flat-panel detectors designed to be pulled from one bucky and put into another -- or simply set upright or laid flat on patient tables -- redefined general radiography suites featured on the RSNA exhibit floor this year. They came from suppliers such as Trixell, Varian, and Canon. Some were wireless. Others bore cables with easy disconnects for quick relocation.

An intuitive interface, faster PC server, and work-in-progress detector panel enhance the Infinix VF-i/BP (biplane) Vascular X-ray at the Toshiba America Medical Systems booth at RSNA 2008.

A low-cost 16-slice scanner designed for cost-constrained customers debuted at the Philips booth during the RSNA meeting.

Expanding its portfolio in digital radiography, GE Healthcare introduced at RSNA 2008 a new high-end DR product, Discovery XR650, and midtier unit, Optima XR640.

GE Healthcare combined ultrasound scanner controls and real-time imaging on a single display with the integration of a touchscreen monitor into its compact Logiq e product.

An add-on digital stereotaxy option for GE’s Senographe Essential lets users perform biopsies on its full-field digital mammography system, sparing institutions the expense of setting up a dedicated biopsy room, according to the company.

Centricity PACS Version 3.0.6 debuted at the GE Healthcare booth of RSNA 2008 offering enhancements aimed at improving collaboration between radiologists and referring physicians.

Carestream Health’s new portable x-ray detector, showcased at the RSNA meeting and scheduled for routine shipments in 2009, promises the means for film-dependent radiography sites to transition to digital. Designed to fit into a standard bucky, either table- or wall-mounted, Carestream’s DRX-1 offers the flexibility of computed radiography. Its solid-state design allows immediate data acquisitions and its wireless transmitter sends the data directly to the console.

Siemens Healthcare showcased at RSNA 2008 a PET/CT designed with radiologists in mind. It emphasizes CT performance and casts PET as the “smart contrast” that enhances the dynamic information delivered by CT. Siemens is pitching the CT component of its new Biograph mCT (molecular CT) as the most important part of the scanner and the PET component as delivering complementary information.

An IT architecture that links multivendor, multisite PACS into an efficient enterprise network debuted at RSNA 2008 in the Carestream Health booth. Carestream framed the architecture as “the first-ever SuperPACS” that streamlines workflow among sites using disparate PACS by sharing patient images and information, while providing a global work list that spans the various PACS to balance exam reading among onsite and offsite radiologists.

GE Healthcare debuted at RSNA 2008 a recently FDA-approved molecular imaging agent that homes in on rare neuroendocrine tumors. The new agent, technically known as Iobenguane I 123 Injection, was approved earlier this year for use in diagnosis and during follow-up of patients with these tumors, if relapse or recurrence is suspected, according to GE, which began shipping the product in late October.

Philips Healthcare showcased at RSNA 2008 a hybrid SPECT/CT that incorporates a flat-panel x-ray system in place of a standard multislice CT. The FDA-cleared scanner, BrightView XCT, which debuted at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in New Orleans, is built around the BrightView SPECT that Philips released commercially last year.

The latest development in ultrasound from GE Healthcare, its Logiq E9, promises to tap the modality’s true diagnostic potential while exceeding that of ultrasound alone to provide interventional guidance. The ability to merge data from CT and other modalities into a live ultrasound scan distinguishes this new scanner, which began commercial deliveries in September.

Extending its reach in applications for MR in women’s health, Toshiba unveiled at RSNA 2008 its Radiance Plus Breast Imaging Suite for use on the company’s two 1.5T scanners, the Vantage Atlas and Vantage Titan.

The Brilliance iCT SP (scalable platform) scanner officially joined the Philips CT portfolio at RSNA 2008.