Deployment of the DICOM Modality Performed Procedure Step Supplement has been much slower than expected, even though most modality and many PACS and RIS systems have implemented it, according to researchers at the Université du Québec.

Toshiba has been experimenting for years with a 256-slice CT, developed in collaboration with the Japanese government. Much of the work has been focused on engineering, but clinical studies have begun. Researchers from institutions in Chiba and Osaka, Japan, are producing dynamic images of liver cancer.

It’s not surprising that I was greeted by a software-driven voice when I called a major provider of voice recognition software recently. What better way, I thought, for the company to show confidence in its technology than to put VR where its mouth is?

Merge eMed unveils fetal 3D packageTwo-D fetal images can be reconstructed in 3D using a plug-in package developed by Cedara Software. The product, called Baby Explorer, is being marketed by Cedara’s parent company, Merge eMed. It runs on a standard PC, supports multiple image types, and exports images that can be printed on standard printers or saved on CD-ROMs.

PACS appears to be finally coming of age as institutions around the world increasingly recognize the benefits of electronic record keeping. The biggest providers of PACS, the film-turned-PACS vendors could expect this to be the time when they realize earnings from their decade-plus investment in this technology. But it is more complicated than that.

Since the earliest days of PACS, radiology has progressively moved away from custom-designed goliaths toward off-the-shelf equipment. That trend is in full bloom at the University of California, San Francisco.

StorageTek, long known for equipment that records and safeguards PACS data, has enhanced its healthcare offerings by adding the Remote Managed Storage (RMS) service. The RMS service not only stores critical imaging, patient care, and business information but proactively manages the data archiving and retrieval process.

NeuroLogica wants to fill the gaps left by the surge of new superpremium CTs and advanced SPECT cameras. The 18-month-old imaging company, based in Danvers, MA, has begun building niche products in these two modalities specifically for neurological applications.

Toshiba America has developed the prototype of a biplane interventional system featuring flat-panel digital detectors and a five-axis positioner that permits unprecedented maneuverability. The new system has been installed at a pediatric facility at Columbus Children’s Hospital in the Ohio capital.

Sales of 16-slice CTs led the industry to new heights last year, topping $1.3 billion in new unit sales to U.S. customers. Industry pundits expect even better numbers this year, as all three CT vendors are now in full production with 64-slice products. These units have grabbed the spotlight for their radiological and especially cardiological applications, but they are just the most visible facet of an increasingly complex CT market.

It’s not surprising that I was greeted by a software-driven voice when I called a major provider of voice recognition software recently. What better way, I thought, for the company to show confidence in its technology than to put VR where its mouth is?

Radiology departments around the country are ready and willing to take in residents and fellows displaced by Hurricane Katrina. As the flood waters recede, however, it seems that residency programs in the New Orleans area will remain intact in some form.

The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise initiative’s portable data for imaging profile has helped the radiology department at Groningen University Hospital in the Netherlands develop a method for easily integrating data from outside hospitals into their own PACS, according to a recent study.

A specific low-dose multislice CT protocol can provide clinically useful images of the wrists, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. The findings take the trade-off between image quality and low radiation exposure up a notch.

A significant number of patients undergoing radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors develop symptoms resembling the flu, according to a study in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Many radiology departments in hospitals and private imaging centers are going digital with the installation of a radiology information system (RIS) and/or picture archiving and communications system (PACS). Departments seem to place less emphasis, however, on automated speech recognition as part of the digital radiology enterprise.

The first announcements came at the 2003 RSNA meeting, informing the radiology community that 64-slice CT would soon be available for clinical practice. Initial site installations by Siemens Medical Solutions and GE Healthcare began shortly after, in late spring and early summer of 2004. The introduction of this new technology came as a surprise to many, since 16-slice CT had been widely available only since 2002.

Radiologists may be able to decrease the time they spend looking away from images by funneling all of their reporting system interactions through a microphone rather than a separate report interface, according to researchers at the University of Florida School of Medicine.

Speech recognition may be defined as the process by which a computer maps acoustic speech signs to text. These systems hold immense appeal-at least in theory. They eliminate transcription delays and some unnecessary consultations and phone calls and make lost reports a thing of the past. They can improve accuracy, provide cost savings, and enable radiology departments to better cope with sudden increases in demand.

Rising standards of patient care are driving PACS adoption among top-quality medical facilities in Japan, South Korea, and China, making the Asia-Pacific region the third largest PACS market after the U.S. and Europe, according to an industry report from Frost & Sullivan.