Siemens to build image-guided EP unit

Siemens to build image-guided EP unit
Siemens Healthcare and SurgiVision will co-develop and commercialize a real-time MR-guided cardiac electrophysiology system. The two companies are working with the University of Utah. Their objective is to improve conventional catheter-based cardiac procedures, according to Siemens, specifically for treating patients with atrial fibrillation. The German company will contribute MR scanner and interactive real-time guidance technologies. SurgiVision will provide technologies for visualizing interventional tools and patient anatomy. Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting more than 3 million people in the U.S. and more than 7 million people worldwide.

ACR aims to enhance liver imaging
The American College of Radiology is developing a system for standardized reporting and data collection for CT and MR imaging surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma. By specifying minimum acceptable technical parameters for surveillance imaging procedures, the College’s LI-RADS (Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System) Committee hopes to reduce the frequency of technically inadequate examinations. The committee also wants to develop methods to improve communication with clinicians, reduce variability in lesion interpretation, and facilitate meta-analysis of published manuscripts by creating a lexicon of controlled CT and MR terminology; standardize report content and structure so as to reduce omissions of relevant information from CT and MR reports by standardizing; and produce a formal data collection system that will facilitate outcome monitoring, performance auditing, quality assurance, and research.