Elscint to market coincidence detection

Israeli medical imaging vendor Elscint is preparing to begin commercialshipments of its Coincidence Detection (CODE) high-energy imagingtechnique after receiving 510(k) clearance from the Food and DrugAdministration last month. Elscint joins ADAC Laboratories andPicker International in being able to market coincidence detection,which is used to image high-energy radioisotopes like fluorodeoxyglucose.

Elscint will offer CODE on its premium variable-angle VariCamgamma camera, with a list price under $200,000, according to RichardBrown, marketing manager at Elscint's U.S. subsidiary in Hackensack,NJ. Elscint is also debating whether to offer CODE to its installedbase of older Helix opposable-angle cameras. Helix cameras wouldhave to be upgraded with new detectors and acquisition racks,however, which might make a CODE upgrade prohibitively expensive.

Elscint will offer CODE in two configurations: CODE 3 employsa 3/8-inch crystal, while CODE 5 uses a 5/8-inch version. Lastmonth's 510(k) clearance applies to CODE 3, and a supplementaryapplication will be filed for CODE 5, according to Brown.

CODE should help increase VariCam sales, which have paced Elscint'snuclear medicine division to record sales levels, according topresident and CEO Jonathan Adereth. CODE will also improve profitmargins in the nuclear medicine line, which in the past has sufferedfrom declining profitability, Adereth said.