Varian signs proton center contract

Varian signs proton center contract
Varian Medical Systems has been selected to supply equipment valued at $60 million for a new proton therapy center in Sweden. The new national proton therapy center, which is owned by a consortium of seven Swedish counties, is scheduled to open in 2013. Public officials representing the new center, dubbed Skandionkliniken, publicly announced the award Aug. 19 when they met with Varian Medical Systems management to sign the contract. Varian plans to book the order for the project before the end of the fiscal year upon review and approval of the tender process. Skandionkliniken is the first clinical center for proton therapy in Scandinavia.

Intelerad readies PET/CT product
PACS/IT vendor Intelerad Medical Systems has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA to market its PET/CT Image Fusion product. The company plans to sell the new product as a fully integrated module within its PAC system, IntelePACS. The new software offers state-of-the-art fusion and advanced visualization technology to display images using variable opacity, independent color maps, multiplanar reformatting, and maximum intensity projection. Users will also have access to specific PET/CT measurements, such as Standard Uptake Values and volume measurements.

Shimadzu debuts portable XR units
Shimadzu introduced two state-of-the-art mobile film-based X-ray systems earlier this month at the annual meeting of the AHRA (formerly known as American Healthcare Radiology Administrators, now the Association for Medical Imaging Management.) Both systems, the Mobile Art Evolution 12 and Mobile Art Evolution 32, are highly maneuverable, designed for use in restrictive and crowded ward environments, according to the company. The Evolution 32 differs from the Evolution 12 in that its design allows upgrade with a digital detector. The motor that propels each product is built to minimize driving noise. The systems also come equipped, however, with a safety alarm that can be activated when the unit is in motion. A “soft-touch bumper design” automatically stops the shock-resistant unit when pressure is detected.

Sorna upgrades DVD/CD software
Sorna Corporation introduced standalone software at the AHRA meeting that enables users to easily add standard images, scanned documents, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, RTF and text documents into patient files contained in PACS. The software, called In2PACS, provides drag and drop functionality of non-DICOM content. The images and documents can be viewed on any DICOM workstation. Sorna recently added automated password encryption for its newest software version of eXpedo software, which automates DICOM CD/DVD publishing systems. The company also has adapted eXpedo to work as a plug-in to Philips iSite workstations.