Growth into 7T facilitates molecular imagingA whole-body imaging package developed by Philips Medical Systems for its Intera 1.5T is being positioned as a viable alternative to nuclear medicine scans for cancer screening and

Handheld ultrasound product stands outThe number of FDA clearances slipped after a torrid stretch from August to November that salvaged what had been shaping up as one of the worst years for innovation in recent memory. December

Spain has joined Finland, the U.K., and other nations in the development of regional PACS. An ambitious project in Castilla-La Mancha aims to link the region's 14 hospitals and 184 primary-care centers under the same PACS. Castilla-La Mancha, an area

Partnership with Sectra Imtec provides technological foundationThe next generation of medical IT systems appeared at the RSNA meeting in December, according to Philips Medical Systems. The Vequion family of products is designed to

Toshiba will continue offering Vital Images' Vitrea 2 software through subsidiaries and distributors in more than 50 countries under a renewed agreement announced Jan. 9. Toshiba has been offering the software as the 3D medical imaging product of choice

Medical systems division stays out of conflictWorkers began a two-day strike Jan. 14 at GE facilities in the U.S. Some 17,500 workers walked out of 48 plants in 23 states, according to wire services. The strike was called by the

New systems provide continuity across modalitySiemens Medical Solutions has taken steps in recent months to shore up its ultrasound product line. It may complete the strategy with the ongoing development of a low-end system some

Vendors add price points below 16-slice levelManufacturers are putting their development of superpremium CT scanners on cruise control in favor of other technological offshoots. Although some manufacturers are already experimenting

Looks to compact high-field scanner, long-termToshiba America Medical Systems has yet to participate in the growth that has typified the MR industry over the past several years. Although the company earned a reputation for

Strategists plan imminent move into PET and PET/CTToshiba America Medical Systems has begun living up to its name. For much of its existence, this Japanese-owned company, based in Tustin, CA, reflected Japanese thinking more than a

The buying spree continued for GE Medical Systems with its acquisition in early January of Ambassador Medical, a refurbisher and distributor of used ultrasound equipment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ambassador, which has about 40 employees, was

PACS and IT vendor Merge eFilm has signed an expanded $5 million line-of-credit agreement with Milwaukee-based Merchants and Manufacturers BanCorp. The previous $3 million line of credit, from which no monies have been drawn, was set to expire in April

The majority of PACS installed to date were acquired through capital budget methods. For imaging modalities, the capital budget method of acquiring equipment -- whether purchased or leased -- has

The first prototype of Siemens' new full-field digital mammography system has been installed at the University of California, Los Angeles, Iris Cantor Center for Breast Imaging. The experimental system, called Mammomat NovationDR, is built around an

Radiologists in academic medical centers sometimes find PACS inadequate for teaching purposes because it can be inflexibly configured, inhibiting their ability to modify the original data. One solution is to construct a duplicate PACS, which can be

This is the second in a series of articles exploring the multiple roles of PACS administration. In the first article, I introduced a competency model used in the information technology world (http://www.dimag.com/pacsweb/stories/feature12120201.shtml).

A survey of every hospital in South Korea found that revenues from both inpatient and outpatient radiology departments were significantly higher one year after the introduction of PACS. The authors analyzed inpatient and outpatient revenue data of all

Vendors pursue quicker and easier workflow for multiple modalitiesComputer-aided detection began modestly, confined to the single diagnostic niche of mammography screening. Now CAD is breaking out into disease areas other than

E-Z-EM (Westbury, NY), Vital Images, and R2 Technology demonstrated during the RSNA meeting a prototype CAD system for virtual colonoscopy. The CAD-equipped Innerview GI processes reformatted CT data, automatically segmenting and defining regions of

November reviews come just in time for someIn a classic case of brinksmanship, radiology vendors cleared 28 devices with the FDA in November. Many were major products featured on the RSNA exhibit floor. Among them were a flat-panel