CT

Siemens Medical Systems has appointed Barbara Franciose as groupvice president of its nuclear medicine group in Hoffman Estates,IL. Franciose replaces Thomas Cafarella, who led the divisionfor two years (SCAN 7/14/93). Franciose is a Siemens veteran

Nuclear medicine veteran Randy Weatherhead has been named vicepresident of marketing for the nuclear medicine division of SiemensMedical Systems in Hoffman Estates, IL. Weatherhead fills a positionpreviously held by Robert Lytle, who died in a plane

Single-head system to complement Picker's Prism XP linePicker International last week announced that it has acquiredScinticor, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of cardiac gamma cameras,in a deal concluded Sept. 20. Terms of the acquisition were

HMO giant Kaiser Permanente has given ADAC Laboratories an exclusivethree-year contract to supply nuclear medicine equipment to 17hospitals in its northern California region. ADAC, of Milpitas,CA, believes the contract could be worth up to $10 million.

Diatech has five peptide-based agents in clinical trialsNorwegian pharmaceutical giant Hafslund Nycomed this month madea bid to strengthen a presence in the radiopharmaceutical marketwith a $10 million equity investment in Diatech, a U.S.

Diagnostic Health Services has completed its acquisition of severalultrasound and nuclear medicine centers in the Midwest that werepreviously owned by Medical Imaging Centers of America. Dallas-basedDHS said the MICA division generates more than $5

Firm targets Siemens installed base The aging installed base of nuclear medicine gamma cameras representsa profitable niche for some companies that have made a businessout of keeping older cameras current. One such firm, MIE Americaof Elk Grove

Technique may expand modality's applicationsTechnological advances in nuclear medicine are having an unexpectedeffect on radiopharmaceutical vendors. As the specialty becomesmore accurate in targeting specific disease states, the potentialpayoff

Vendor bullish on potential of new productsNuclear medicine vendor ADAC Laboratories posted financial resultsfor its third quarter (end-July) that show the company back onthe growth track it had been following until the nuclear medicinemarket

Software addresses specialty's weaknessOne of the nuclear medicine community's major weaknesses in recentyears has been its failure to adequately market the modality'sunique ability to image body metabolism and function. As a resultof this

The nuclear medicine group of Siemens Medical Systems has startedbuilding the first gamma camera detectors using sodium iodidecrystals grown at a new facility the vendor has built at its HoffmanEstates, IL, headquarters. The new crystal-growing factory

Nuclear medicine struggles to dispel gloomy predictions of modality's futureVendors must work together to improve specialty's fortunesLast month's Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Minneapolisfound the nuclear medicine community at yet

Japanese vendor Toshiba is banking on a change of scenery to helpit meet the software requirements of U.S. nuclear medicine customers.The company announced last month that it is moving its nuclearmedicine software development program from Japan to

GE and Digirad lay digital foundationVisitors to last month's Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting neededsharp eyes to see what could be one of the biggest developmentsin gamma camera instrumentation since the introduction of SPECT.It was easy to

Company must build customer confidence to succeedSopha Medical and Summit Nuclear made it official at last week'sSociety of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Minneapolis. The mergedcompany debuted as SMV, with U.S. operations headquartered atSummit's

Two new dual-head cameras lead introductionsNuclear medicine market leader ADAC Laboratories served noticeat last week's Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting that it doesnot intend to rest on its laurels. The Milpitas, CA, company unveileda range

Backup plan kicks in to ensure supplyThe nuclear medicine community in April received another reminderof the precarious nature of its supply of molybdenum-99, the rawmaterial for technetium-99m. The Canadian reactor that is themain source for

Vendor will show dual-head artifact correctionPicker International will expand the versatility of its single-headgamma camera lineup by introducing Prism 1500XP at next week'sSociety of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Minneapolis. Picker alsoplans

Vendor to show dual-head artifact correctionThe nuclear medicine group of Toshiba America Medical Systemsplans to highlight an upgrade in workstation processing speedat the upcoming Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting. Visitorsto Toshiba's SNM

Siemens Medical Systems has become the second gamma camera vendor to win Food and DrugAdministration 510(k) clearance for a nonuniform attenuation correctionproduct. Siemens' Hoffman Estates, IL, nuclear medicine grouplast month got the FDA's imprimatur

Elscint has reinforced its reputation for ongoing structural change by again reorganizingits nuclear medicine and CT/MRI sales and marketing groups. Changes announced March 1 are intended to give the units clearlydefined lines of responsibility,

Toshiba's nuclear medicine division is adding enhancements to its line of gamma cameras.The Tustin, CA, vendor is planning to extend its transmission-emissionartifact-correction technique from its triple-head gamma camerasto its dual-head systems,

Vendor to develop solid-state gamma cameraGE Medical Systems last week announced that it and two other companieshave been awarded grants sponsored by the U.S. and Israeli governmentsto develop a new type of nuclear medicine detector. The

Nuclear medicine competitors Sopha Medical and Summit Nuclearserved notice last week that 1994's wild mergers and acquisitionsride didn't end with the Radiological Society of North Americameeting. The two firms closed the year with a bang by

Multiformat camera and PACS firmVisiplex Instruments last month acquired worldwide sales and marketingrights to Nuclear Data's IV 4600 film recorder, which recordsvideo images from modalities that use an ultra-high line videosignal. The acquisition is

Nuclear medicine vendor Sopha Medical showed its hand in expandingthe functionality of its line of gamma cameras at this month'smeeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Sopha, ofColumbia, MD, displayed works-in-progress developments in

Vendor also unveils MacroVision softwareThe trickle of nuclear medicine vendors with digital gamma cameradetectors became a flood at this month's Radiological Societyof North America meeting. Several vendors unveiled developmentsin digital

While other nuclear medicinevendors play catch up by adding digital to their gamma cameras,digital pioneer Summit Nuclear will display its second-generationall-digital gamma cameras, FX-80 and FX-40. The cameras will make their RSNA debut after being

The market depth of Siemens Medical Systems is evidencedby the number of new systems the vendor will unveil in modalities from nuclear medicine to CT to ultrasound. In nuclear medicine, Siemens will soon implement a new modular strategy that allows

Holding the spotlight in SophaMedical's booth will be Sophycamera DST-XL, a new version of theFrench nuclear medicine vendor's variable-angle dual-head technology.The gamma camera was unveiled at the Society of Nuclear Medicinemeeting in Orlando (SCAN