Despite continued disappointment at the Food and Drug Administration’s reluctance to clear full-field digital mammography systems, vendors at the RSNA conference were optimistic about the development of digital and other emerging technologies. In

Small PACS firms continue innovationLarger PACS vendors may have dominated the exhibit floor at this year's Radiological Society of North America meeting, but by no means did they hold a monopoly on innovative technology. Despite difficult market

Philips lands contract from Kaiser Permanente Philips Medical Systems has been awarded a three-year contract to supply x-ray equipment to Kaiser Permanente. In addition to providing Kaiser with cardiology, radiology/fluoroscopy, and surgery

ACR adds standards for PACS, teleradiologyThe American College of Radiology (ACR) has bolstered its standards relating to PACS and teleradiology. The Reston, VA-based organization has updated its Standard for Teleradiology and created a Standard

PACS takes forefront at RSNA show as interest surges in digital imagingLarge-scale purchases may be driven by digital x-ray technologyAttendees at the technical exhibits at December's Radiological Society of North America meeting found no

Agfa lands another DIN-PACS awardThe consortium led by Agfa Medical of Ridgefield Park, NJ, has recieved a large-scale PACS award from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., under the military's Digital Imaging Network-Picture

Medasys, Citation call off plans to combine businessesFirms will likely sell each other's products, howeverThe merger of French PACS vendor Medasys Digital Systems and Citation Computer Systems fell apart earlier this month. Regulatory

Japanese medical imaging vendor Shimadzu has become the latest MRI vendor to settle patent litigation with Fonar of Melville, NY. The two companies last month announced their settlement regarding Fonar's multiple-angle oblique (MAO) patent. Shimadzu

More deals may be on the horizon as vendors seek scalePACS and teleradiology firms have clearly determined that size does indeed matter. Visitors to this month's Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago needed a scorecard to keep

Competition tightens as more independent firms sellGE Medical Systems confirmed that it has acquired independent service organization Serviscope of Wallingford, CT, but the Milwaukee vendor declined to provide details on the sale other than to

Acquisitions are finalized just days before start of RSNA conferenceIt went down to the wire, but Picker International and GE Medical Systems achieved their goals of acquiring Elscint's CT, nuclear medicine, and MRI business units in time for this

Companies hope for boom in dedicated MR salesA sleek, open-style MRI scanner is about to join the ranks of systems dedicated to orthopedic studies, thanks to a collaboration between Siemens, Lunar, and Esaote. The result could be a dramatically

Nuclear medicine vendor ADAC Laboratories of Milpitas, CA, introduced two new variable-angle gamma cameras at this month's Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago: Forte and Vertex V60. ADAC hopes Forte, a new open-gantry camera, will

Mx8000 enables vendor to counter recent CT launchesPicker International didn't waste time in making the most of its acquisition of Elscint's CT business. Less than a week after finalizing the deal (see story, page 1), Picker introduced Mx8000, the

GE Medical Systems last month completed its acquisition of Marquette Medical Systems, a developer of patient testing and monitoring products (SCAN 9/30/98). Marquette will be run as a subsidiary of GE and has been renamed GE Marquette Medical

Applicare signs more OEM dealsDutch PACS software developer Applicare Medical Imaging has signed an OEM agreement with British Telecom subsidiary BT Health. Under the two-year, nonexclusive deal with automatic renewal, BT Health will privately

Canon joins digital radiography race with amorphous silicon offeringFirm highlights system's integration with PACS as key benefitCanon USA has become the latest medical imaging vendor to bring a digital radiography system to market. The

Olicon to focus efforts on its OEM customersPACS firm Olicon Imaging Systems has decided to shift most sales efforts to OEM distribution opportunities with healthcare information systems firms, particularly with partner Shared Medical Systems.

DeJarnette departs IBM DIN-PACS consortiumDeJarnette Research Systems has decided to withdraw from the IBM consortium participating in the U.S. military's Digital Imaging Network-Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (DIN-PACS) deal. The

Small PACS firms find survival difficultShakeout continues at a furious pace in the PACS and teleradiology markets, with Access Radiology and EMED apparently the latest firms to tie their futures together. As more of these small companies join