In many corporate mergers, acquired companies get lost in the consolidation, their operations and products integrated with those of the parent to the extent that soon little—if anything—of the old company is recognizable. Not so in the case

Dr. Peter Rothschild fulfilled expectations and proposed a bold vision in his remarks at the annual Open MRI conference in Las Vegas, May 13-16.“Within the next three to five years, all new magnets being sold will be open,” Rothschild said.

The Veterans Administration National Acquisition Center has awarded Toshiba a one-year contract to supply ultrasound systems to its medical centers and clinics. Under the contract, which may be extended to a total of three years, VA facilities, as well

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has blessed the marriage between Philips Medical Systems and Agilent Technologies’ Healthcare Solutions Group (HSG). Russia, Canada, and Brazil must still clear the union, but Agilent and Philips are upbeat

The past year of tumult for Internet-based businesses has left its mark on imaging companies, many of which entered the e-commerce space with hopes of high-volume “hits” that would translate into big online profits. But the industry has

The question of how many people it takes to operate PACS is not a joke, as those hospitals that do step over the digital line soon discover. Developing a staff adequate to meet the demands of filmless radiology operations is a continuous challenge,

Despite bluster and hyperbole to the contrary, PACS companies are detaching themselves from the very capability they promote. These vendors, more and more, are becoming product- rather than solution-based.“Leading PACS suppliers are starting to

The Uptime Service Center of Siemens Medical is growing up. The one-story building in Cary, NC, is adding two floors, a move that will triple its current 20,000 square feet. The service center is Siemens’ hub for servicing its imaging products in

AccuImage Diagnostics is moving to the University of California, San Francisco, Radiologic Imaging Laboratory (RIL) in South San Francisco. It will be a return to familiar surroundings for AccuImage CEO Leon Kaufman, Ph.D., who spent much of his career

Nearly a third of the 25 radiology-related applications passing FDA muster in April address radiation oncology. The rest were split among MRI, ultrasound, image management, and nuclear medicine. Standouts included two ultrasound systems, an x-ray

Digital imaging and distribution technologies are shaping fundamental changes in workflow. Everything from department design to perceptions about radiology’s role in healthcare is up for grabs.Pundits predict that by 2010 up to 80% of tertiary-care

Despite the ability to save radiology departments hundreds of thousands of dollars and dramatically decrease report turnaround time, speech recognition (SR) systems have long been denied market acceptance, perhaps because those savings have come at the

At yet another talk on the many benefits of PACS, I asked the speaker why, if PACS have so many benefits and are so cost effective, haven't more people adopted them? The answer was somewhat convoluted, but two major issues appeared: Costs, in

Traditionally, PACS and RIS have coexisted in the same hospital but kept separate databases containing supposedly identical data -- a situation ripe with potential for inaccuracies. Ideally, hospitals should be able to address user needs through use of a

PACS, which began as a hospital-based image management tool, is being configured to support multiple institutions and imaging centers. This step takes advantage of its potential for cost cutting. PACS offers savings and operational opportunities for

Dedicated electrophysiology products are joining the product lineup of Toshiba America Medical Systems as part of a sales and marketing strategic alliance between Toshiba and Fischer Imaging. The alliance was struck to allow Fischer Imaging to focus

The imaging systems are ready to go in a pioneering cardiovascular lab at the University of California, San Francisco, designed as a test bed for new ideas and novel applications combining x-ray angiography and MRI. The interventional suite will explore

Marconi Medical Systems has entered the PET market—not with products of its own making but with ones built by the same company that supplies industry leader Siemens Medical Solutions. The agreement, announced in mid-May, allows Marconi to

In a move that took the PACS industry by surprise, eMed Technologies announced May 17 the resignation of CEO Caren Mason. The company cited Mason’s long-distance commute from Wisconsin to eMed’s Boston-based headquarters and her

The shock wave gravy train derailed more than a decade ago, when minimally invasive surgery all but took over the gallstone market. Vendors had hoped gallstone treatments would boost this technology, popularized by its ability to smash kidney stones, to