New Fuji software extends Synapse algorithms, interfaces

Synapse version 3.1 from Fujifilm Medical Systems USA features advances in data processing and presentation, extended dictation support, and DICOM query and retrieve functionality. Interaction with PACS made by other vendors is one of the highlights of the new software.

An enhanced Reading Protocols function, Clinical Conferencing and Series Renaming, saves the presentation of past series and changes series names, when necessary, to make them more consistent and, therefore, easier to find and review. The "save" function eliminates the need to rearrange and navigate through images when revisiting a past study as part of a later collaboration or conference. The renaming feature further streamlines the diagnostic process.

Fuji's new DICOM SCU (service class user) makes other PACS behave as if they were Synapse PACS by mapping the information contained in these systems into the Synapse infrastructure, allowing their images to be viewed using Synapse tools. This permits Synapse to be at the core of a multisite PACS implementation or operate within a multi-PACS site.

Version 3.1 also extends Synapse's breadth of integration options for dictation systems. Supported vendors now include G2 Speech, Lanier Serial Port, Powerscribe, Provox, Quadrat Speech Technology, and Talk Technology.

Fuji plans to release new software version commercially in the first quarter of 2005. Fuji's RSNA booth also features a work-in-progress being developed to port image optimization algorithms from computed radiography to volume-based exams, such as multislice CT.

Dynamic Range Control and Image Sharpening, which enhance and sharpen the borders of tissues with different densities, such as bone and soft tissue, are key components of the work-in-progress, which promises to improve diagnostic certainty in the interpretation of CT studies.