PACS Vendors Expand International Use and Partnerships

Across the country – and in a time of anticipated global PACS growth – several vendors are increasing their market share.

Carestream announced this week that Arcispedale S. Maria Nuova of Italy and Owen Sound Hospital, a member of Grey Bruce Health Services in Canada, have implemented the company’s digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) module. This module allows providers to display DBT exams and images from other mammography modalities on the Carestream Vue Mammography Workstation.

Agfa Healthcare recently announced Amiri Hospital in Kuwait City, Kuwait, is now covering all radiology areas of the hospital with Agfa’s IMPAX PACS and RIS. This upgrade covers the main radiology department, emergency department, and the MRI and gastroenterology units. There are future plans to extend coverage to the intensive care and critical care units. This expansion also includes 21 diagnostic workstations and 40 RIS stations.

Lexmark International, a digital information connection company, recently acquired PACSGEAR, a leading, global PACS and electronic medical records company. PACSGEAR already serves 50 countries worldwide and roughly half of all U.S. hospitals. With this acquisition, PACSGEAR will report to Lexmark’s Perceptive Software, creating the opportunity for Perceptive Software to offer a vendor-neutral, standards-based clinical content platform for capturing and managing patient imaging information.