Greg Freiherr

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Toshiba America Medical Systems has positioned its MicroPure ultrasound technology as a way to better characterize microcalcifications. The new technology, showcased at RSNA 2008 on Toshiba’s Aplio XG ultrasound scanner, improves the detection of small calcifications that otherwise may evade detection with ultrasound.

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.

Philips Healthcare showcased its new value-oriented HD15 ultrasound system at RSNA 2008. The latest addition to Philips’ HD product line, commercially released in summer, is designed for use in small hospitals, clinics, and private practices.

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

Web-PACS and IT developer Infinitt North America unveiled at RSNA 2008 a software tool that uses 3D and other postprocessing techniques to improve visualization and analysis of coronary vessels.

After two years of R&D, GE Healthcare released at RSNA 2008 a thin-client server to support 3D visualization on PCs.

As the mammography community embraces digital mammography, newly converted sites must overcome the challenge of comparing new images with old. PACSGEAR introduced at RSNA 2008 its solution to the problem.

FiatLux Imaging leveraged advances in the video gaming industry to develop software for processing 3D medical images, a product made to order for tight budgets.

A new configuration of GE Healthcare’s LightSpeed VCT cuts dose by up to 40% during routine imaging, according to the company.

Interventional guidance is getting a boost at RSNA 2008 through a novel ultrasound system developed by GE Healthcare and a partnership between Philips Ultrasound and interventional workstation developer Traxtal.

The 1.5T Discovery MR450 has joined the GE Healthcare portfolio armed with real-time cardiac imaging, multicontrast abdominal imaging in a single acquisition, and ultra high resolution musculoskeletal scanning at high patient throughput. The company also showcased its 3T Discovery MR750, shown initially last spring at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine meeting. The FDA-cleared scanners bear GE’s new “Discovery” moniker, indicating premium performance.

Philips Healthcare is differentiating its PACS at RSNA 2008 by offering a wide variety of ancillary and complementary functions developed by other vendors but presented by Philips as optional software packages geared to work with its iSite system.

Philips Healthcare unveiled two MR scanners on the RSNA 2008 exhibit floor: one at 3T, the other at 1.5T. Both emphasize productivity and clinical value, albeit by different means.

Sony has unveiled at RSNA 2008 a printer designed specifically for digital mammography.

Emerging opportunities in breast imaging have inspired CoActiv to tailor its Exam-PACS to handle breast-specific gamma imaging files.

Competition among vendors hawking advanced visualization tools has heated up on the RSNA 2008 exhibit floor with offerings from standard-bearer Vital Images, newcomers ZioStation and FiatLux, and perennial rivals TeraRecon and Visage Imaging.

Digital radiography specialist IMIX Americas introduced at RSNA 2008 two DR systems and software for processing radiographs. Designed for smaller facilities, the compact SomaRad DR system can be installed in rooms with ceilings only eight feet high. The ChiroRad DR system is tailored to fit chiropractic offices. IMIX workstation software, with an enhanced user interface, allows the seamless integration of digital and computed radiography components and improves workflow.

A new CT scanner built on Siemens’ unique dual-source x-ray technology promises to dramatically reduce dose and eliminate motion artifact in the chest. Using two x-ray tubes and matching detectors, the Somatom Definition Flash, debuted at RSNA 2008, opens the door to routine scanning of the coronaries, according to the company.

Patient comfort during MR and the efficiency of functional MR got a boost at RSNA 2008 with the unveiling by Resonance Technology of enhancements to its CinemaVision audio video systems and FuncLAB automated fMRI image data processor.

In a bid to extend radiation oncology applications, engineers at Philips Healthcare have widened the bore of the company’s premium Gemini TF PET/CT scanner to create the industry’s first big-bore hybrid. Priced north of $2 million, the Gemini TF Big Bore is scheduled to begin shipping next year. Philips is showcasing the Big Bore this week on the RSNA exhibit floor, and beta testing will begin at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in the next several months.