To our readers:

This issue marks the beginning of SCAN's 10th year of publishing.It's an accomplishment in which we take some pride, given therapidly changing nature of the medical imaging industry.

Through the years, we've tried to give you an insider's lookat developments in the imaging marketplace. We believe that ourlongevity and experience enable us to offer the perspective neededto sort out what is often a cacophony of voices. We hope thatthis perspective has helped you navigate the sweeping changesthe industry has experienced since the supercharged days of scannerpurchasing gave way to an era of cost-cutting and consolidationbrought on by managed care.

Our first issue, dated July 8, 1987, illustrates how much thingshave changed since those early days. Our lead story discussedthe pending merger of Picker and Philips, a merger that ultimatelyfell through the next year. Other stories covered the followingtopics:

• Elscint's efforts to slow its red ink after a $116 millionloss in 1986;

• Toshiba's apprehension over a proposal in Congress to banall the company's imports in reaction to a breach of advancedtrade restrictions by Toshiba Machine Co., a sister firm thatsold specialized milling machinery to the Soviet Union (the bandidn't pass); and

• An ACR-NEMA committee's floundering effort to develop astandardized computer interface for digital imaging equipment.(The effort eventually was successful, evolving into the DICOM3.0 standard.) We'll be sharing more of these stories with youover the next year as part of our "10 Years of SCAN"feature, which will appear every other issue. We hope you enjoythem, and as always, we welcome your comments and opinions.

-Brian Casey, Editor