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Functional MRI could lead to 4-tesla renaissanceThe nuclear magnetic resonance instrument division of Varian Associatesin Palo Alto, CA, is chiseling out a specialized niche in ultra-high-fieldMRI with the launch of Unity Inova, a whole-body

High-level Siemens manager leads the transitionMaking a profit these days isn't easy for medical imaging OEMs.Smaller technology suppliers, however, may find generous incomeopportunities if they can ride a wave of outsourcing contractschurned up

Alliance Imaging of Orange, CA, last week said that it has landedsix-year contracts to provide MRI services to a group of threehospitals on Long Island in New York. Alliance will service thehospitals with a new Siemens 1-tesla Magnetom Impact mobile

New scanner targets high-end ob/gyn applicationsGE Medical Systems plans to roll out the final member of its Logiqultrasound product line at next week's American Institute of Ultrasoundin Medicine meeting in New York City. The new scanner,

Researchers find high sensitivity and specificityUltrafast CT manufacturer Imatron received some good news froma clinical study reported this month in Circulation, a journalpublished by the American Heart Association. The study found thatthe

Siemens Medical Systems plans to expand its service capabilitiesby building a new Uptime Services Center, the facility that providescustomer support and technical services such as remote diagnostics.The Iselin, NJ, vendor plans to build a new

The Logiq 500 scanner helped GE Medical Systems' status rise in1995 from an also-ran to a more respectable player in the radiologicalultrasound market. GE has shipped about 1400 of the moderately priced Logiq 500platforms to customers in the U.S. and

Firms plan to exploit each other's strengthsGE Medical Systems raised the ante in the increasingly high-stakesmultivendor service market last week by acquiring National MedicalDiagnostics, a leading supplier of asset management services

Vendor is developing variable-angle gamma cameraThe new head of the nuclear medicine group of Siemens MedicalSystems has a track record for bringing R&D projects to marketquickly, a trait that the Hoffman Estates, IL, group is countingon to

Trex Medical continues to roll on the acquisition road. The holdingcompany for x-ray firms Lorad and Bennett X-Ray last week signeda letter of intent to buy XRE of Littleton, MA, a vendor of cardiaccath labs and angiography suites. XRE will give Trex

Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands is planning job cutsfor its Philips Medical Systems International BV unit, accordingto wire service reports. The job cuts could total in the hundredsacross Philips Medical's 9500-strong global work force,

Other vendors may also be infringing, attorney saysMRI patent litigation is in the news again, but this time it isMayo Foundation and Toshiba at legal loggerheads rather than GEand Fonar. Mayo has filed a lawsuit against Toshiba charging

GE Medical Systems of Milwaukee has made several changes to theexecutive line-up of its MRI division. Morry Blumenfeld has beennamed general manager of advanced MR development. Blumenfeld willoversee GE's MR-guided surgery effort and will manage

MCD and LabStat will also expand markets in 1996The multivendor service program being developed by nuclear medicinevendor ADAC Laboratories is one of three major growth initiativesthe Milpitas, CA, firm is pushing in 1996 to expand its

Mark De Simone, general manager of GE's Network Products and Servicesdivision, has left the Milwaukee vendor for workstation manufacturerDigital Equipment. De Simone joined Digital several weeks agoas Midwest region vice president and is based in the

After a long executive search, PET camera developer Positron hasfound a chief executive officer. The Houston company announcedthis month that it has hired medical imaging veteran Werner Haasas CEO. The position had been open since September of 1994,

DVI chairman and CEO David Higgins has stepped down, the Doylestown,PA, medical equipment financing company reported in November.Michael O'Hanlon, DVI's president and COO, will assume the CEOtitle. Higgins said he will continue to consult for DVI in

Expect few changes in Loral's PACS unit for now Loral Medical Imaging Systems (LMIS) has found itself swept alongby the wave of consolidation crashing across the defense industry.On Jan. 8, aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin took thefirst

Damadian sees many routes to company comebackLess than a month after its first major exhibition in seven years,MRI pioneer Fonar has announced the receipt of five signed andfunded orders for its new Quad series of open-style MRI scanners.Another 10

U.S. shifts from sales leader to technological pioneerTop executives representing the six multinational companies responsiblefor most of the world's medical imaging equipment sales have declaredthat the industry has turned the corner, ending a

Improving the image quality of low-field MRI is the focus of anagreement announced last week between Conductus and Siemens. Underthe terms of the deal, Conductus, a Sunnyvale, CA, developer ofhigh-temperature superconducting technology, will work with

Toshiba America Medical Systems has named John Zimmer as CT businessunit director, the Tustin, CA, vendor reported this month. Zimmerjoined Toshiba after experience with GE Medical Systems, wherehe most recently managed x-ray and CT marketing for the

Technical exhibit at 1995 RSNA conference shows managed care's influence on radiologyCorporate partnering and image management are major trendsLast month's Radiological Society of North America meeting cappeda year that saw vendors

Osteoporosis drug raises all corporate boatsLunar and Hologic aren't the only firms benefiting from increasedinterest in bone densitometry. The same good news that has ledto improved sales for the two bone densitometry segment leadershas

Firm could level playing field with OEMsA new type of equipment service technology is in the works bya service company in Irvine, CA. Orasis Medical Services is developinga plan to offer remote diagnostics to companies that provide

Purchase adds standard x-ray to Dynarad lineDentsply International has found a buyer for its Gendex Medicalx-ray and mammography business in the form of Del Electronics,the owner of portable radiography vendor Dynarad. The announcementcame only

Did Du Pont divestiture affect timing of DR introduction?A battle royal is looming among medical imaging companies overmethods to digitize conventional x-ray exams. At last month'sRadiological Society of North America meeting, new

ADAC adds new wrinkle with gamma camera effortSiemens and Philips at last month's Radiological Society of NorthAmerica meeting became the latest companies to offer multivendorservice programs, offering further evidence that the concept