Several companies achieved record revenues last quarter due to increasing demand for postprocessing and PACS equipment. The positive financial reports lend credibility to claims that the image management marketplace has achieved the level of steady growth that has long distinguished the diagnostic imaging industry.

Philips Medical Systems has long prided itself on the performance and sophistication of its imaging hardware. The company’s focus on the upper tier of the market has resulted in a rich portfolio of high- and premium-end scanners. But work is now under way at Philips to develop a parallel portfolio for budget-conscious consumers. The company is using a joint venture in China to achieve this goal.

Siemens closes in on CTI acquisitionAs of May 4, 94% of the outstanding shares of CTI Molecular Imaging had been acquired by Siemens Medical Solutions as part of that company’s bid to acquire the Knoxville, TN, firm. Siemens expects to complete the acquisition through a merger in which all CTI shares not validly tendered will be converted into the right to receive $20.50 per share. CTI would then become a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Medical Solutions. CTI Molecular Imaging is a supplier of PET products and services with annual revenues above $400 million and annual income near $60 million.

Stroke patients given a thrombolytic agent along with continuous ultrasound monitoring fared better than patients who received thrombolysis alone. Accelerating the dissolution of emboli could potentially increase the duration of the critical three-hour window in which lysis must be performed, according to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Major vendors agree that there will always be a place, at least in the U.S., for open MR devices. That place, however, has been steadily shrinking for general-purpose scanners, as imaging centers and hospitals focusing on patient-friendly scanning have had to look for ways to increase productivity and offer advanced applications. Options have come in the form of wide-aperture, short-bore magnets. Over the past few months buyers in this space have been presented with two other choices: Siemens’ 1.5T Espree and Philips’ Panorama 1.0T.

When it comes to evaluating 3D workstations, the proof is in the clicks-the fewer the better. That's the consensus of attendees at a workstation face-off event held during the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance annual meeting in South Beach, FL, in March.

The urgent need to more efficiently manage the volume and flow of images in the radiology and medical fields has grown dramatically as scanning technology has evolved.

Europe has traditionally lagged behind the U.S. in its interest in open MR technology. Now the launch into the European market of two MR systems, each claiming performance comparable to 1.5T but friendlier to patients, may at last reverse that trend.

The federal government has put a national health information network on its agenda, and the board of directors of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has endorsed the 21st Century Health Information Act.

Over the years, we've grown comfortable and familiar with the digital revolution in radiology. Actually, in many quarters it is no longer a revolution but an accomplished fact.

Digital cardiac imaging may relieve many clinical issues, but it also can elevate the blood pressure of IT managers charged with maintaining the various cardiac systems.

Orbis has a new look: a graphical user interface called NICE (new interface for cool ergonomics). NICE integrates international standards, thereby laying the groundwork for expansion of the Orbis installed base beyond its stronghold in western Europe. Orbis is a suite of hospital IT applications developed by Agfa’s latest corporate acquisition GWI that operates at more than 2000 medical sites in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France. The standardized interface allows individual adaptation, which optimizes the ergonomics of Orbis, according to the company. GWI demonstrated the new interface at the Information Technology for Healthcare trade show in Frankfurt in April.

The pace of FDA clearances slowed in March for the second consecutive month and the fourth in a row that the number has failed to break 30.

Over the past three weeks, Philips Medical Systems has been talking up its vision for the future of cardiac CT. In five cities -- Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Ft. Lauderdale -- on dates ranging from April 19 to May 5, Philips has presented the clinical benefits of diagnostic cardiovascular CT. Feature presentations were made by clinicians from Wisconsin Heart, Washington Hospital Center, the Healthcare Clinic of Arkansas, and Lake Cardiology.

The Agfa-Gevaert Group is making a play for Heartlab, the innovative designer and supplier of cardiac image and information management software.

Ideas for tomorrow’s products are bouncing around the medical community right now. Some are wild imaginings, hardly tested, if tested at all. Some have preliminary results based on animal or cursory human tests. Others are well thought out but lack the technological engine to push them forward. GE Healthcare has told Michael Wood, Ph.D., to snatch up as many in MR as he can.

United we stand, divided we may not necessarily get the best deal. That’s the message driving changes to AXrEM, the trade association representing the U.K. medical imaging industry.

Providers of digital medical imaging solutions never cease to press home the advantages of network connectivity to workflow. But the larger an IT network is, the bigger the potential problem should a software virus strike. Siemens Medical Solutions plans to address this threat with the launch of a dedicated virus protection program for medical IT systems.

Over the past three weeks, Philips Medical Systems has been talking up its vision for the future of cardiac CT. In five cities -- Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Ft. Lauderdale -- on dates ranging from April 19 to May 5, Philips has presented the clinical benefits of diagnostic cardiovascular CT. Feature presentations were made by clinicians from Wisconsin Heart, Washington Hospital Center, the Healthcare Clinic of Arkansas, and Lake Cardiology.

Inoperable patients with chronic critical limb ischemia can avoid amputation by undergoing subintimal recanalization therapy, according to University of Virginia researchers.