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GE, Advanced NMR Combine For 3-tesla MRI Medical imaging vendors trying to maintain product innovationin an era of shrinking budgets are turning to strategic partnershipsto freshen their product lines. The latest example of such cooperationis a

Software Programs Improve Quantification As a mature modality, nuclear medicine has been forced to fendoff challenges from other technologies encroaching on its turf.The use of nuclear medicine in brain imaging, for example, hasplummeted since

Toshiba America MedicalSystems last week unveiled Capasee, a compact ob/gyn ultrasoundsystem it is introducing into the U.S. The Tustin, CA, vendorwill market the system as a portable ultrasound scanner for privateoffice applications. Capasee has been

Technology must expand beyond radiologyInformation will be king in a health-care system focused on utilizationreviews and capitation. Teleradiology and PACS will gain staturein this evolving health-care context, but only if digital

Staff tumult continues at MGH subsidiary3M Medical Imaging Systems this month closed the book on its OEMrelationship with Massachusetts General Hospital subsidiary RStar.3M announced this month that it will no longer offer the RStarsystem and

Ultrasound PACS company ALITechnologies of Richmond, British Columbia, hopes to gain marketingheft from a new relationship with computer software developerNeXT Computers of Redwood City, CA. ALI signed on last month as a member of Object Channel, a

But demand may eventually dominate the regionUltrasound sales have great potential in the dynamic Asia-Pacificregion, given their low cost, mobility and diagnostic versatility.However, ultrasound use may require some time to establish a

Company sees hazy future for gamma camera salesThe month of April was a study in contrasts for gamma camera vendorADAC Laboratories. While the Mountain View, CA-based company reportedsharply higher revenues and earnings for the quarter, it was

SuperSensor coil aimed at low-field segment A California start-up firm is hoping to transfer recent advancesin high-temperature superconducting technology into success inthe medical imaging industry. Superconductor Technologies (STI)has

PACS start-up Dominator RadiologySystems this month reported the hiring of Gadi Maier as CEO. Maiercomes to Dominator from computer manufacturer Oracle, where hewas vice president and general manager of the massively parallelsystems division. Dominator

But pioneering 900S system process too costlyToshiba's helical CT technology is evolving at a rapid pace. Followingintroduction of the premium Xpress/SX system late last year (SCAN11/17/93), the vendor will add a mid-tier price point to its

Two SMR shows add cost in a down marketThe frustrations of selling equipment when customers are not inthe mood to buy surfaced at March conferences sponsored by theSociety of Magnetic Resonance in Dallas and the Society of Cardiovascularand

Effort could transform service of scanner installed baseThe service market for medical imaging equipment has been ripefor a shakeout as competing pressures put stress on equipmentvendors and health-care providers alike. Declining equipment

Deal would be ISG's first film OEM Spring is here, and courting has picked up in the PACS segmentof the medical imaging industry. Vendors are forming new OEM-supplyalliances at a frenzied pace. The latest partnership would involve Canadian

Serviscope president and CEODonald J. Southard will be leaving the independent service organizationas part of a move to refocus the company's direction. Also leavingthe Wallingford, CT, company is vice president Robert Cate. Serviscope expanded rapidly

Slumping market makes any new venture riskySpeculation about apossible foray by echocardiography market leader Hewlett-Packardinto cardiac MRI rose a notch above the rumor level last monthwith HP's hiring of a senior MRI marketing executive

Specialty scanners will breed like

FDA finishes device review in four monthsMedical imaging vendors are enjoying a rare burst of productivityfrom Food and Drug Administration product reviewers, who havebeen granting marketing clearance to imaging devices at a frenziedpace this

PACS developer Cemax is puttingthe regulatory pieces together for its line of image managementand archiving products. Cemax received Food and Drug Administration510(k) marketing clearance last month for its ClinicalView andDiagnosticView workstations,

From the perspective of new product introductions, the AmericanInstitute of Ultrasound in Medicine meeting suffers from its proximityto radiology's center stage, the Radiological Society of NorthAmerica conference. Vendors rely on the Chicago meeting for

Scanner vendor holds cost advantage for equipment supplyHeartScanImaging, a subsidiary of ultrafast CT developer Imatron, expectsto begin building a chain of CT imaging centers this year, usingImatron electron beam scanners to screen for

Vendor also to market mid-tier Logiq 500 in U.S.GE Medical Systems received Food and Drug Administration 510(k)marketing clearance for its Logiq 700 ultrasound scanner lastmonth. Milwaukee-based GE now embarks on what is sure to be anarduous

CT price competition helps this modalityUsers in developing world medical markets want low-cost, high-technologyimaging equipment. Don't we all? Siemens hopes to meet this demand-- particularly in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region -- witha

Former PACS company president turns attention to telemedicineCombining teleradiology and videoconferencing applications onone hardware system has long been a dream of telemedicine advocates.That dream is a bit closer to reality since a Florida

Diasonics Ultrasound is hoping to give the ultrasound community something to get excited about at the upcoming American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine meeting in Baltimore. The Milpitas, CA, company will unveil its latest version of

Reorganized firm will continue distribution effort in AsiaTheassets of MRI firm Resonex were acquired by its major creditorlast month after the Fremont, CA, company defaulted on loan payments.Resonex has been reorganized as Resonex Holding

Toshiba America Medical Systems named Peter N.S. Annand tothe position of senior vice president of sales, marketing, serviceand ultrasound this month. The move provides company-wide seniormanagement support for TAMS president Kunio Sumikawa, which

Siemens Medical Systemswas named a preferred vendor for cardiac catheterization labsand MRI scanners last month by University Hospital Consortiumof Oak Brook, IL. The agreement is valid for one year, with twoone-year extension options. The use of