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Toshiba America Medical Systems has trimmed overhead and shiftedresources to field operations in order to compete more effectivelyin a sluggish U.S. medical imaging equipment market. The Tustin, CA, vendor cut 45 administrative and other positionsat

Image PSL (formerly Image Premastering Services) has installedits first analog picture archiving and communication system, labeledImage Access, at the University of Southern California in LosAngeles. The St. Paul-based optical technology company is

Resuscitated Japanese sales, blooming international market shareand a possible play in ultrasound should help Picker Internationalavoid sluggish sales in a maturing U.S. medical imaging market,according to Cary J. Nolan, president and CEO.With no new

Calumet Coach of Calumet City, IL, created a European subsidiaryin March 1990 to capitalize on emerging demand for mobile imagingoverseas. Calumet Coach PLC, based near London in Camberly, beganshipping specially designed 12.8-meter mobile imaging vans

Magnetic resonance research is poised for another technologicalleap forward with the clinical siting of three 4-tesla systems.GE, Philips and Siemens have been involved in 4-tesla researchsince the late 1980s, but only recently have installed their

Toshiba America Medical Systems closed its regional ultrasoundservice offices in Yonkers, NY, and Chicago last week. The vendorconsolidated ultrasound service responsibility for the easternand central regions into its Atlanta and Dallas offices. The

The safe harbor regulations have apparently dampened U.S. medicalimaging equipment sales. Some scanner purchases have been delayedas doctors who had been close to finalizing center limited partnershipspaused to consider the structures of their joint

The highest court in the German state of Baden-WÕurttembergdeclared unconstitutional a government procedure similar to U.S.certificates of need. The decision, made this summer, will beappealed to the German Supreme Court, where it is likely to

Picture archiving and communication system technology developedby Siemens and Loral Aerospace in their successful bid to supplyPACS to U.S. Army and Air Force hospitals (SCAN 10/9/91) was designedto meet the needs of large-scale PACS installations. There

GE has introduced a third MRI platform in Japan and Europe. The0.5-tesla Vectra system sits in the middle of GE's MRI productline between the Signa--in both its 1.5-tesla and 0.5-tesla versions--andthe MR Max Plus. It was displayed by GE-CGR, GE Medical

The Western European market for medical imaging systems remainsdivided along national lines despite efforts to create a unifiedmarket within the European Community by January 1993. Imagingvendors active in Europe will keep their national sales and

Danube Hospital, a 1200-bed facility in Vienna, will begin trainingon a pioneering Siemens picture archiving and communications systemthis month. The digital system should be in full operation byApril, said Peter H. Grassmann, group executive for Siemens

Philips Medical Systems showed a mid-priced version of its premiumPlatinum ultrasound system at the World Federation of Ultrasoundmeeting in Copenhagen and the European Congress of Radiology inVienna last month. The P700 sells for $35,000 less than

GE-CGR signed a preliminary agreement in February with VNIIEM,a central Soviet industrial ministry, for a Moscow-based jointventure to assemble, sell and service CT Max 640 scanners. GE is proceeding with the preparatory phase of this ventureand hopes

Picker International is reorganizing its European operations,partly in response to expected increases in health-care investmentsin the new democracies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The Cleveland medical imaging vendor is forming a

Philips Medical Systems has halted manufacture of nuclear medicineimaging systems to concentrate on better business prospects inother modalities. The firm will focus on MRI, ultrasound, CT,x-ray, and radiation therapy, according to Hans van Bree,

Siemens and partner Loral Aerospace of San Jose, CA, were awardeda potentially huge contract last month for the supply of picturearchiving and communications systems to U.S. Army and Air Forcemedical treatment facilities. The Siemens/Loral group

Schering has received marketing approval in three European countriesfor its Echovist ultrasound contrast agent. The German pharmaceutical firm, first to enter the world marketwith an MRI contrast agent, received approval for Echovist inFrance and Italy

Proliferation of three-dimensional medical image processing systemswill accelerate over the next several years (see graph). A primeforce driving 3-D medical imaging is the growing processing powerand open-system architecture of medical workstations,

MR scientists and research labs in the Houston area are developinga proposal to create a regional center for NMR research. If successful,the center will pool local MR research efforts in both spectroscopyand imaging applications, said Dr. Russ Huson,

Siemens Medical Systems received Food and Drug Administrationapproval this month for its low-field 0.2-tesla Magnetom P8 MRIsystem. The P8 was developed by Siemens' Japanese joint venture,Siemens-Asahi Medical Systems. It was introduced into both

A state-sponsored study has found that Florida residents pay moreand are referred to diagnostic imaging services more often thanresidents of other states. The study attributes this imbalanceto the virtual monopolization of outpatient MRI and CT

Siemens decided this month to consolidate manufacturing of ultrasoundscanners into its Quantum Medical Systems subsidiary in Issaquah,WA. Production of the Siemens SI 1200 cardiac scanner will bemoved from San Ramon, CA, and combined with manufacturing

Another Japanese vendor is targeting the U.S. for sales of high-quality,low-cost MRI systems, but this time with a twist: the MRI technologyand manufacturing base is American. Otsuka Electronics (USA) of Fort Collins, CO, will apply forFood and Drug

GE Medical Systems has applied for Food and Drug Administrationmarket approval of a 0.5-tesla version of its high-end Signa MRIsystem. The vendor hopes to receive the go-ahead for U.S. salesby next month. The 0.5-tesla Signa will fill a gap between

Toshiba America Medical Systems of Tustin, CA, reduced the numberof its U.S. sales and service regions from four to three, effectivethe first of this month. TAMS will expand staff in the remainingzones to provide more support for district managers. The

While unit sales of mega-expensive positron emission tomographycameras are still nothing to shout about, the PET market showedbrisk growth last year. PET orders flattened out, however, inthe first half of 1991. GE installed or is in the process of

Mobile imaging provider Maxum Health filed a registration statementwith the Securities and Exchange Commission last month for aninitial public offering of common stock. Maxum intends to sell1.5 million shares at a proposed maximum price of $13 per