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Search for: "computer vision" - 181 articles found

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Article • Spanish registry offers unprecedented data

ROSSETTI: Towards a more personalized treatment of stroke

The boom in interventional radiology procedures has enabled great strides in ischemic stroke management. But while a myriad of techniques are available, the challenge remains in choosing the most appropriate thrombectomy treatment on the spot, according to Jordi Blasco Andaluz, a neuroradiologist at Hospital Clinic Barcelona. The new ROSSETTI registry is designed to change this.

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Sponsored • Diagnostic technology

New 640-slice CT delivered to the heart of Italy

United Imaging are excited to share that, in partnership with Fora S.p.A., an industry leader with over 50 years of expertise in delivering advanced diagnostic technologies to the Italian market, Policlinico Casilino Hospital will join the company's global network. Demonstrating its commitment to innovation and growth, the hospital has selected the industry-leading 640-slice CT scanner to…

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Article • AI is key

Lung cancer screening initiatives across Europe

Artificial Intelligence will be a critical component in ensuring a Europe-wide lung cancer screening programme can achieve its potential, according to speakers at a special ECR 2024 session. Delegates heard that the SOLACE project (Strengthening the screening of Lung Cancer in Europe) will be supported by AI in terms of workflow, diagnostics, and image and data analysis.

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Article • Tackling gender inequality

Radiology – still a “man’s world”?

Gender equity is a key factor in achieving excellence in academic medicine. So far, however, this is only partly reflected in reality: In Europe, women represent 54% of physicians and 40% of radiologists. However, female representation in radiology decreases at increasing levels of leadership. A panel of experts assessed the challenges women have to face in radiology and explored strategies to…

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Article • Trade fair presence

Taiwan blends tech and tradition at Medica 2023

AI features for automation, integrated systems and more: the role of medical technology has never been as vital as today, and MedTech companies from Taiwan are putting their best foot forward to contribute. At the 2023 Medica trade fair, visitors of the Taiwanese pavilion not only had the opportunity to see the latest medical products on display, but also get acquainted with Taiwanese culture in…

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Article • “Embracing the future: Making robots for humans” at ICRA

Conference unveils the latest developments in robotics and automation

Ever-more sophisticated robots are advancing healthcare across a wide range of areas. Latest developments and research are being showcased in London from May 29 to June 2 at the 40th International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA). The event is set to be the world’s largest gathering on robotics and automation with pioneers, inventors and innovators coming together with academics,…

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Sponsored • Optimization for CT

An update for contrast agent injection

The Accutron CT-D Vision is the next generation of the leading contrast agent injector for computed tomography from Medtron AG. Focusing on the needs of the user, the latest development stage of the Accutron CT-D improves the usability of the CT double-piston contrast agent injector and optimizes its integration into the radiological environment.

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Article • WSI, AI and more

New digital frontiers for nephrology

Digital technology solutions create new opportunities in diagnosis and assessment of renal conditions. With whole slide imaging (WSI), improved workflow and better visualization, such technology already yields a ROI for hospitals and laboratories.

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Article • Augmented reality in the OR

AR helps surgeons to see, feel and understand

X-ray vision, context-sensitive guidance, coordinator, training assistant and more: augmented reality (AR) has hit the OR. While still in its infancy AR does grow rapidly and has already shown enormous potential. University Professor Dr Rüdiger von Eisenhart-Rothe, Chair of Orthopaedics and Sports Orthopaedics at the Technical University Munich, explains the advantages of different AR…

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News • Early detection and treatment of illnesses

Researchers develop implantable AI system

Artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change medicine and healthcare: Diagnostic patient data, e.g. from ECG, EEG or X-ray images, can be analyzed with the help of machine learning, so that diseases can be detected at a very early stage based on subtle changes. However, implanting AI within the human body is still a major technical challenge. TU Dresden scientists at the Chair of…

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Article • AI in public health

Inspiring women to create technology that impacts society

Some people change the narrative about technology and society. One of them is Nuria Oliver, Chief Data Scientist at Data-Pop Alliance, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Vodafone Institute, and Co-founder and Vice-president of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS). In an interview with HiE, she explains how she develops computational tools and uses artificial…

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News • Personalizing treatment

AI can help improve precision radiotherapy

The Netherlands Cancer Institute, University of Amsterdam (UvA), and Elekta will collaborate on the development of new AI strategies for the further improvement of precision radiotherapy. This concerns the personalization of treatment by improving the quality of imaging used during treatment, predicting and accounting for changes in the patient’s anatomy over time, and automatically adapting…

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News • CADU vs cancer

Detecting oesophageal cancer with AI

Experts at University College London (UCL) and spinout company Odin Vision working with clinicians at UCLH have used artificial intelligence (AI) to help detect early signs of oesophageal cancer. The first procedure in the world using the AI technology was performed at University College Hospital by UCLH consultant gastroenterologist Dr Rehan Haidry. The system, called CADU, uses AI to support…

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News • Imaging

Accutron CT-D Vision - the new essential for contrast

With the launch of the Accutron CT-D Vision, MEDTRON AG once again demonstrates their status as a partner to radiologists. Focusing on the operator's needs, the latest evolution of the Accutron CT-D enhances the usability of its double head CT injector and optimizes its integration into the radiology environment.

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Article • 'Thumbs up' for image reconstruction

Facebook AI accelerates MRI exams

Artificial intelligence (AI) image reconstruction dramatically reduces magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan time, according to new research. The first clinical study comparing AI-accelerated knee MRI scans with conventional scans shows that the AI scans are not only diagnostically interchangeable with conventional ones, but also produce higher quality images. Results of this interchangeability…

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Article • Machine learning advances diagnostics and prognostics

Computerized image analysis can predict cancer outcomes

The advent of digital pathology is offering a unique opportunity to develop computerized image analysis methods to diagnose disease and predict outcomes for cancer patients from histopathology tissue sections. Such advances can help predict risk of recurrence, disease aggressiveness and long-term survival, according to a leading expert in the field, Professor Anant Madabhushi from Case Western…

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Article • The role of chest CT in diagnosis and treatment

UPDATE: Covid-19 and lung infections imaging

RSNA 2020: International experts showcased new studies on chest CT’s role in Covid-19 diagnosis and treatment. A staggering volume of work and has been produced on the pandemic this year, with an average 367 Covid-19 journal articles published per week, according to Michael Chung, Assistant professor of radiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC.

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Article • Open source framework

Here comes the AI healthcare era

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has put wind behind the sails of AI in healthcare, domain specific tools are needed to build and deploy AI and harness its power in data handling, training workflows and reproducibility of state-of-the-art approaches, according to Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA Vice President of Healthcare at the technology firm NVIDIA, presenter of a public address at RSNA 2020.

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News • New gargle test

Mass spectrometry to improve Covid testing

A UK biotech laboratory has used mass spectrometry in a new approach to coronavirus testing. MAP Sciences developed a gargle test, which collects samples from the back of the throat, and avoids the unpleasant sensation of the current PCR (polymerase chain reaction) swab tests. From there, the sample is tested for coronavirus using mass spectrometry (MS) with high levels of accuracy.

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Article • Creating instruments, implants & more onsite

Reforming surgical procedures with 3D printing hubs in hospitals

Increasingly, hospitals use 3D printing in surgery because the technology can enable fast, unique production of patient-tailored tools at relatively low costs. ‘As the technology itself is developing and accelerating at a fast pace, hospitals may be left behind if they choose not to adopt these advances,’ said Limor Haviv, surgical 3D printing designer at 3D4OP. Today, 3D printing is used in…

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News • Computer-aided detection

Olympus launches AI-powered endoscopy platform

Olympus Corporation announced the launch of Endo-Aid, a platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that includes the endoscopy application Endo-Aid CADe (computer-aided detection) for the colon. This new AI platform enables real-time display of automatically detected suspicious lesions and works in combination with Olympus’ recently introduced EVIS X1, its most advanced endoscopy system…

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Article • Digitising healthcare

Virtual assistants and digital twins advance personalised medicine

Siri and Alexa are leading the way: the virtual assistants meet many daily needs. Soon, similarly programmed software and a ‘digital patient twin’, will be launched into the medical world – both IT applications based on Artificial Intelligence (AI). The virtual medical assistant and digital patient twin are two key aspects of a research project ‘Models for Personalised Medicine’.…

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Article • Imaging informatics meeting

SIIM 2020: Glancing back at 40 years and ahead to the future

40 years ago, anticipating the huge impact of computers in radiology, a group of visionaries formed the Radiology Information System Consortium (RISC). In 1989, RISC created the Society for Computer Applications (SCAR) to promote computer applications in digital imaging. Those organisations became the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). At SIIM 2020, a virtual meeting, experts…

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Article • Digital pathology

VIPR: Deep learning for small cohorts

To investigate rare diseases, applying image-based analytics approaches, including the use of deep learning convolutional neural networks (DL-CNNs), can be a major challenge due to great difficulties in acquiring sufficient numbers of cases and associated digital image sets from the small cohorts typically available. To realise algorithms that are both effective and generalisable, conventional…

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News • Opinion

Cloud computing vs. edge computing: rethinking healthcare infrastructure

Cloud computing isn’t exactly a new concept in the healthcare industry. Its benefits have become increasingly well-known across the sector and, without it, we wouldn’t have many health-related services that both healthcare professionals and patients now rely on. It’s no surprise then that the European healthcare cloud computing market is expected to be worth around £44 billion by 2025.…

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News • Biomimetic sight assistance

"Artificial eye" prototype shows great promise

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are developing an artificial eye with capabilities close to its human model. The research team published their work on the biomimetic eye in the journal Nature. “Watching sci-fi series such as Star Trek and I, Robot, I thought about making a…

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Article • Tools for practitioners

Computational pathology: Heading for personalised medicine

Computational pathology has increased applications for diagnosis, prediction of prognosis and therapy response, facilitating the movement of healthcare towards personalised medicine. Coupled with deep learning, such tools are ever more efficient and robust within research and clinical settings. The growing role of computational pathology was highlighted by Professor Andrew Janowczyk at the…

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News • Monitoring Covid-19 from the sky

A ‘pandemic drone’ to detect coronavirus infections

A ‘pandemic drone’ to remotely monitor and detect people with infectious respiratory conditions is being developed by the University of South Australia (UniSA) in partnership with a Canadian company. The drone will be fitted with a specialised sensor and computer vision system that can monitor temperature, heart and respiratory rates, as well as detect people sneezing and coughing in crowds,…

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Article • Integrated diagnostics

Radiologists, pathologists and geneticists gather around a digital table

Radiology, pathology, medical genetics and laboratory medicine under one roof: many hospitals are toying with the idea of ‘integrated diagnostics’ but it was the medical management at Geneva’s University Hospital that dared to take the first step and consolidate all these diagnostic disciplines in a single organisational unit: The Diagnostic Department. ‘Our long-term vision is a…

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News • Decision support

AI can predict septic shock

Researchers at Linköping University (LiU) have developed an algorithm that can identify patients at a higher risk of septic shock, a life-threatening condition that is difficult for doctors to predict. At the same time, it is important to recognise the symptoms as early as possible, since early treatment increases the chance of survival. A group of LiU researchers is using artificial…

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News • Look out!

Eye movement test confirms brain-ageing effects

University of Liverpool researchers have used a newly developed eye movement test to improve the understanding of how parts of the brain work. Healthy, older adults are widely reported to experience cognitive decline, including impairments in inhibitory control (the ability to stop ourselves thinking or doing things). However, because ageing effects on inhibitory control are highly variable…

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Article • TAITRA at Medica 2019

A vision of Taiwan innovation

A popular proverb in Mandarin goes ‘Hearing something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once’ (百聞不如一見). Visiting the Taiwan pavilion at this year’s Medica, it’s clear to see that the Bureau of Foreign Trade (MOEA) from Taiwan, together with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and its foster companies, have taken this sentiment to heart.

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Article • Amazon’s AI-powered personal voice assistant

‘Alexa’ joins the NHS

It’s a world’s first. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is collaborating with Amazon to provide reliable health information from the service’s website through voice-assisted technology. In a speech announcing the service, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, addressed the need for dependable information.

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Article • Healthcare 2.0 by NVIDIA

Deploying AI in healthcare

With the right tools, physicians could transform the lives of patients and scientists. For Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA, artificial intelligence is such a tool, and could meet the increasing demand for personalised medicine and next-generation clinics. ‘AI is the biggest technological breakthrough of our lifetime.’

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Article • Impressive advances reported at Intelligent Health 2019

China pushes the use of medical AI

September: Basel, Switzerland: ‘Intelligent Health 2019’, a conference dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, underlined the growing interest by the rising number of attendees – 1,400 in 2018, its first year, to 2,027 this year. With examples of AI use from around the world, the common thread throughout was how AI can serve humankind by enabling better understanding of…

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News • Surgical breakthrough in France

Robot enables lumbar spine repair

Is it possible to repair the rachis without having to open the abdomen or the back? A team of French surgeons has done just that. Thanks to minimally invasive robotic surgery, exposing the patient to risky spine interventions may soon be avoidable, a leading surgeon explained. The team of neurosurgeons and vascular surgeons has, for the first time, successfully repaired the lumbar spine with the…

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Article • Artificial intelligence in radiology

Assessing the AI revolution

How will artificial intelligence (AI) affect continuing education and management in radiology? This issue was discussed by an expert panel at the ESR AI Premium meeting in Barcelona. Continuing education – It must be clear what radiologists need to learn about AI; one way to go could be to give it more space in the training curriculum, according to Elmar Kotter, deputy director of the radiology…

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News • Prototype program

App to detect eye disorders in children

A smartphone application has been developed that can help parents detect early signs of eye disease by searching their children’s photographs for traces of leukocoria, also known as “white eye”. The CRADLE app (ComputeR Assisted Detector LEukocoia) searches for traces of abnormal reflections from the retina called leukocoria or “white eye,” a primary symptom of retinoblastoma, as well…

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Article • Will machines take over?

AI? We shouldn’t worry about it – yet

Humanity is not doomed to submit to machines as in the Terminator movies – or at least not yet. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are still far from capable to imitate the human brain in all its complexity. Yet there is no doubt that AI will have a global and huge impact, particularly for professionals such as radiologists, who should look at AI critically and focus on the many new…

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Article • AI in imaging

Radiologists must control their own destiny

Radiologists have not ended talk about artificial intelligence and machine learning but, rather than fear for the future of their profession, they themselves must decide how that should be, an eminent expert Dr Woojin Kim warned ECR delegates in Vienna in March. Two years in discussion and the hype around artificial intelligence (AI) is far from fading. Interest has never been higher, and the…

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News • Precision medicine

Europe looks to cells for a healthier future

How can we detect the first signs of disease as early as possible? Could closer investigation at the cellular level help to quickly prevent disease progression through appropriate treatment? The European Union is now investing a million euros over a one-year period to devise the plan for a fundamentally new approach to understanding the constant changes within cells and their relationships to one…

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Article • AI ethics and responsibilities

A journey into human/machine interactions in healthcare

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) able to deliver diagnostic advances for clinicians and patients, the focus has shifted towards ensuring the technology is used in an ethical and responsible way. As evidence emerges of a gap in research on ethical deployment of AI, Dr Gopal Ramchurn is embarking on a three-year research project that will look at setting parameters for AI usage, with a key aspect…

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Article • Data handling

Blockchain: “Hype will fade but the technology will remain”

A new dimension in data handling is not only emerging, but is already a reality in our lives. However, political discourse about this often lags behind real events. We spoke with two experts who have an overview of clouds, decentralised data flows and the evaluation of personal data with IT help in various areas. Engineer Professor Alexandra Dmitrienko is a Secure Software Systems expert at the…

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Article • Connected laboratory

Digitisation and automation: Game-changers in histopathology?

Often referred to as the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of histopathology, the sample entry has posed considerable challenges in pre-analytics for several decades. We visited the Munich-based lab automation start-up Inveox GmbH. Time-intense, highly manual processes in labs are expensive, error-prone and the most common reason for irregularities in cancer diagnoses. In Germany alone, every year hundreds…

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Article • Implementation

En route towards digital pathology

The benefits of digital pathology have been well-documented along with the need for significant capital investment. Yet, as some pathology networks are discovering, there can be ongoing challenges to bringing an integrated system into play. Path Links – a single managed clinical pathology network operating across Lincolnshire in the east of England – and Nottingham University Hospitals in the…

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News • Innovation

Siemens Healthineers debuts new thermocycler and AI-powered interpretation software

At the 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2018), Fast Track Diagnostics, a Siemens Healthineers company, launches a new molecular thermocycler, the Fast Track cycler, and the complementary new FastFinder software. The Fast Track cycler is a compact platform that enables laboratories of all sizes to implement molecular testing with simplicity and speed…

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News • Memory-Driven Computing

Time lapse for dementia research

The German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) is just starting the operation of a new high-performance computer in Bonn. It should significantly accelerate the evaluation of biomedical data and thus lead to faster progress in dementia research. For this the computer uses the principles of the novel computer architecture "Memory-Driven Computing". Time is running out: Dementias…

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News • Augmented reality

Bracco Imaging reinforces its portfolio in Interventional Oncology

Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a global leader in diagnostic imaging, announced a strategic partnership with R.A.W. S.r.l. - an Italian company focused on Augmented Reality Guidance technology in Interventional Oncology procedures - to expand its portfolio of solutions for Interventional Oncology. One of the key challenges clinicians have to face during interventional procedures is the precise…

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Article • MRI vs. Alzheimer's

Seeking leaks in the blood-brain barrier

‘With our new MRI method, we can finally visualise tiny leaks in the blood-brain barrier. They shed light on the vascular contribution to dementia and may indicate Alzheimer’s disease. However, the MRI scan is only a tool to diagnose cerebrovascular damage. We have not yet found a cure for Alzheimer’s,’ confirms Walter H Backes, medical physicist and professor at Maastricht University…

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Article • The InnerEye Project

AI drives analysis of medical images

Some time in the distant future artificial intelligence (AI) systems may displace radiologists and many other medical specialists. However, in a far more realistic future AI tools will assist radiologists by performing very complex functions with medical imaging data that are impossible or unfeasible today, according to a presentation at the RSNA/AAPM Symposium during the Radiological Society of…

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Video • Automation in radiology

Machine learning techniques generate clinical labels of medical scans

Researchers used machine learning techniques, including natural language processing algorithms, to identify clinical concepts in radiologist reports for CT scans, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the journal Radiology. The technology is an important first step in the development of artificial intelligence that could interpret scans and…

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News • Simulated CNS

This ‘brain-on-a-chip” could be a new medical testing ground

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists and engineers have developed a “brain-on-a-chip” device aimed at testing and predicting the effects of biological and chemical agents, disease, or pharmaceutical drugs on the brain over time without the need for human or animal subjects. The device, part of the Lab’s iCHIP (in-vitro Chip-Based Human Investigational Platform) project,…

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Article • The potential insights are invaluable; we should not waste this source

Medical data mining

The treasure trove of healthcare data waiting to be explored in German hospitals is immense and could provide invaluable insights. However, what about data security and privacy? Andreas Klüter, CTO of Empolis Information Management GmbH, a new business entry in healthcare IT, spoke with European Hospital about medical text mining and the need for ethics discussion.

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Article • Augmented Reality in the operating theatre

Virtual data merges with a real body

Medical Augmented Reality (AR) assistance systems overlay information onto a surgeon’s field of view. This technology is complex and expensive. Therefore, the procedure must offer a big advantage compared to conventional treatment and diagnostic methods to qualify for standard use. The objective is a system that shows a surgeon a 3-D image of inside the body plus instruments used during surgery…

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News • Perception research

Why do we see colors the way we do?

Dr. Wolf M. Harmening from University Eye Hospital Bonn, together with American colleagues, studied color vision by probing individual sensory cells – photoreceptors – in the human eye. The results reveal that proximity effects play a key role in how we perceive colors.

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Article • Increase confidence in the operating theatre

Adapting to image guided surgery

In more than 21% of complex anatomical osteosynthesis procedures, an intraoperative improvement of the implant position or a revision of reduction has to be performed (Recum von, J. et al., Unfallchirurg 2012, 115:196-201, Die intraoperative 3D-C-Bogen-Anwendung. State of the art).

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News • Smartphone app

Unlocking the mystery of multiple sclerosis with tech

What if a single smartphone app could help solve the enigma of multiple sclerosis (MS) and move new treatments ahead at lightning speed? That was the bold idea that led Daniel Pelletier, MD, professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and division chief of the Neuro-Immunology and USC Multiple Sclerosis Center, to develop myMS, the world’s first smartphone app capable of…

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News • Imaging technology

Visiopharm engages in major initiative for Deep Learning

Visiopharm A/S announces the first result of their multifaceted strategy to apply Deep Learning technologies to its leading image analysis solution for cancer research and diagnostics. Visiopharm considers Deep Learning an important technological breakthrough for tissue pathology that offers the potential to make a real difference in the assessment of tissue structures, which is probably one of…

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News • Autism

Big Data techniques find biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

An algorithm based on levels of metabolites found in a blood sample can accurately predict whether a child is on the Autism spectrum of disorder (ASD), based upon a recent study. The algorithm, developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the first physiological test for autism and opens the door to earlier diagnosis and potential future development of therapeutics.

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News • brain research

Progress Towards a Circuit Diagram of the Brain

Precise knowledge of the connections in the brain – the links between all the nerve cells – is a prerequisite for better understanding this most complex of organs. Researchers from Heidelberg University have now developed a new algorithm – a computational procedure – that can extract this connectivity pattern with far greater precision than previously possible from microscopic images of…

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Article • Deep Learning

Philips and LabPON plan to create world’s largest pathology database

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) and LabPON, the first clinical laboratory to transition to 100% histopathology digital diagnosis, today announced its plans to create a digital database of massive aggregated sets of annotated pathology images and big data utilizing Philips IntelliSite Pathology Solution1. The database will provide pathologists with a wealth of clinical information for the…

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News • Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality visor to dramatically improve surgery

Employing new photonics technology, European scientists are developing a new Augmented Reality surgical visor in a bid to improve accuracy of interventions, showing anaesthetic and medical data while superimposing a patient’s x-ray in perfect unison with their body, meaning surgeons never having to look away during an operation and surgery times reduced by over 20 minutes for every 3 hours.

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News • Happy Birthday!

Bracco celebrates its 90th anniversary with "Bracco Fellowships"

Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a leading global company in the diagnostic imaging business, today announced at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) the launch of the "Bracco Fellowships", a new, unique initiative to promote excellence among European radiologists in partnership with the European Society of Radiology (ESR).

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Article • Surgery 4.0

Robots will not see off human specialists

Big Data, automation, and artificial intelligence – no doubt, all these developments will have an impact on surgery. During our interview, Professor Hubertus Feußner, Head of the interdisciplinary research group ‘Minimally invasive interdisciplinary therapy intervention’ at the Technical University Munich, Germany, and Professor Christoph Thümmler, Professor for eHealth at Edinburgh…

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Article • Computer intelligence

Cognition-guided surgery – a rocky road

Surgery will change – with all the challenges that developments such as Big Data create there are no two ways about it. However, how deep those changes run remains to be seen. In a rather young field of research, scientists look at the ways all components used during surgery can be interlinked. Professor Beat Müller, co-initiator of the project ‘Cognition-Guided Surgery’, explains results…

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Article • STAR

Robot outperforms standard surgery techniques

Intelligent robots supervised by surgeons could help remove human error from the operating room. Dr. Peter C. Kim, Vice President and Associate Surgeon-in-Chief at Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Health System (CNSH) in Washington, D.C., and his colleagues designed and programmed “Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot”, or simply STAR, to successfully…

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Article • Neurosurgery

Their parts are simply too big

‘An autonomously working robot in the operating theatre will continue to be a vision of the future for a long time to come,’ according to Professor Uwe Spetzger, Clinical Director and Neurosurgery Specialist at Karlsruhe City Hospital. At the same time, he is calling for political support for the development and promotion of these innovative technologies and asking funding bodies to rethink…

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News • Map

How the brain is organized

The age of exploration has long passed, but there is at least one area still largely uncharted: the human brain. Now, a detailed new map by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis lays out the landscape of the cerebral cortex – the outermost layer of the brain and the dominant structure involved in sensory perception and attention, as well as distinctly human…

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News • Siemens Healthioneers

Managed Equipment Services contract from UK worth around €50 million

Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust (the Trust) has awarded Siemens Healthineers a cooperation contract worth around €50 million. The Trust is an integrated care organization which is responsible for the care of 530,000 local people in the midwest of UK. For a contract life-time of 10 years, Siemens will provide four hospital sites with a comprehensive suite of management services…

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Article • Drawing radiology and nuclear medicine together

‘Let’s work as a team!’

Dr Gerald Antoch, professor of radiology and chairman of the department of diagnostic and interventional radiology at Düsseldorf University Hospital and active member of several scientific societies, delivered the prestigious Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Honorary Lecture at ECR 2015 on ‘Hybrid imaging: Let the two worlds of radiology and nuclear medicine come together’. Report: Marcel Rasch

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News • Healthcare Technology

IBM Invests in Modernizing Medicine

To accelerate the adoption of Watson cognitive computing technologies in healthcare, IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an investment in Modernizing Medicine, a provider of cloud-based technologies that help physician specialists create, consume and apply medical information in new ways to transform point of care decision support.

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Article • Pros and Cons of DMP

France still seeks an electronic health record

The idea of a ‘dossier médical personnalisé’ (DMP, or electronic health record) for every French citizen was first inaugurated in 2004. Now, over 10 years and €500 million later, we can look at the pros and cons encountered during this still incomplete journey and consider if similar projects would be a useful addition to healthcare administration in other European countries, or…

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Using brain waves to steer a wheelchair

At the Joint Congress of European Neurology in Istanbul, researchers from Austria and Belgium have presented a study exploring innovative methods for communicating with coma patients. Their aim is to be able to communicate with patients by detecting brain activity even in people with inhibited consciousness.

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Growing Demand for Postmortem Imaging

Postmortem examination by means of computed tomography and other imaging techniques is still a novelty in many countries. But at the forensic institute of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, scanning the bodies is daily routine. By Irène Dietschi

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Sectra - Confident and able to count on its photon counting technology

SECure TRAnsmission, the main aim of a spin-off from the Linköping Institute of Technology, was established in 1978. From this beginning, the Swedish firm Sectra has evolved into one of the world’s leading players in PACS and mammography solutions. Although secure communication systems remains a core business, the medical section has constantly grown since 1988, when Dr Torbjörn Kronander…

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MPR 3-D echocardiography

A cardiologist at a UK hospital has become the first in the world to develop a technique to ‘slice’ 3-D images of the heart into intricate sections using computer software. The method, devised by consultant congenital cardiologist Dr Joseph Vettukattil at Southampton General Hospital, is known as multiplane review (MPR) 3-D echocardiography. This allows cardiologists to identify heart defects…

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Instead of the “Tube” – An Innovative MRI is open for all Patients

Modern magnetic resonance (MR) tomographs with very strong magnetic fields produce images of steadily increasing precision and are currently gaining more and more importance in radiological diagnostics. In conventional MRI the patient lies in a tunnel, which many people find difficult or even impossible to do, given a scan time of approximately 20 minutes. Physicians of the Joint Radiology…

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Health informatics in practice

The Health Informatics Congress held in the UK this April, revealed how IT is helping health Trusts across the UK to take innovative steps in the way they respond to patients’ needs. The Clinical Showcase session examined how Trusts are coping with new patient administration and reporting systems and, in particular, how Cerner Millennium and Lorenzo systems are being implemented.

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WoHIT 2010

The World of Health IT Conference & Exhibition (WoHIT) -- the first joint eHealth conference of the European Commission and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS Europe) --- was held in Barcelona this March, creating Europe’s largest gathering of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) stakeholder groups as well as end-users, hospital CEOs, practitioners and…

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Launch of Optima CT660 at German Congress of Radiology

GE Healthcare has now announced the sales launch of the Optima CT660*. The new system is a modular, all-round computer tomography (CT) product for all applications that uses extremely low doses of radiation, is economical with electricity and is extremely cost-effective. It is especially suitable for use in clinics and general hospitals. GE Healthcare is unveiling the groundbreaking 64-slice CT…

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Turf Battles in IT

The introduction of digital imaging in all fields of radiology and digital workflow using RIS and PACS has led to fundamental changes in the daily work of radiologist. Professor Davide Caramella, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Pisa, Italy, described how IT supports radiologists in their daily work and why radiologists need to keep up-to-date in IT.

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Ideaworks

Many years ago, five self-made millionaires were interviewed about their work. The last question posed was: ‘Is there one thing to which you could attribute your enormous success?’ Without hesitation, four answered: ‘Energy!’ The fifth quipped, ‘Luck’. By the law of averages energy is thus a vital ingredient. However, there are many other essential assets and luck is the least of them.

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Breakthrough in MR-guided, non-invasive neurosurgery

The Magnetic Resonance Center of the University Children's Hospital Zurich has achieved a world first breakthrough in MR-guided, non-invasive neurosurgery. Ten patients have been successfully treated by means of transcranial high-intensity focused ultrasound. This fully non-invasive procedure opens new horizons for neurosurgery and the treatment of different neurological brain disorders.

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Changing the way we live

Marcel van Kasteel MBA, is VP of Philips and CEO of Handheld Immunoassays, a Philips Incubator venture in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which recently announced that, by the end of this year, the first device to test for drug abuse will be marketed that will make on the spot testing simple and quick for use by the police.

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HI VISION 900

Hitachi has developed a new abdominal sonography system, based on a fully digital platform with a unique high-performance computer and an innovative octal parallel wideband beamformer, the firm reports.

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Med-tech industry profits are hit by the global financial crisis

The sector is ‘clearly strained’, says Joachim M. Schmitt, Managing Director and Member of Board of the German Medical Technology Association, BVMed, in Berlin. But, the good news is, employment is up and, he adds ‘We are at the beginning of a medical technology revolution’. ‘Overall, healthcare is certainly more panic-proof than, for example, the automobile industry,’ said Joachim…

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conhIT: The future place to be for healthcare IT providers?

From 2004 to 2007 VHitG (Verband der Hersteller von IT-Systemen im Gesundheitswesen) and Messe Frankfurt jointly organised ITeG (IT-Messe und Dialog im Gesundheitswesen). When VhitG moved the event to Berlin, this cooperation ended and Messe Berlin came on board as new partner for what is now called conhIT. The organisation team headed by Jens Naumann, VhitG chairman, developed an entirely new…

Die AFHdialogTAGE

Innovative Lösungen und neue Technologien diskutieren, Herausforderungen gemeinsam annehmen - dafür stehen die AFHdialogTAGE des Asklepios Future Hospital Programms (AFH). Die zweitägige Fachtagung findet am 28. und 29.Januar in Berlin statt.

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Heart-Rate Adaptive CT Image Reconstruction

The advent of multislice computed tomography has made coronary artery imaging with computed tomography (CT) a clinical reality. When a CT scanner with 16 detector rows is used, scan times are within the breathholding capabilities of most patients. The latest generation of CT scanners with 64 detector rows has reduced the scan time to 6-10 seconds, which is suitable for examining all but the most…

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CT Fluoroscopy

In recent years, interventional procedures using realtime image control by means of Ultrasound have been increasingly integrated into the clinical routine as diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. However, a series of limitations in ultrasound result tram physical effects that interfere with the image. Combining fluoroscopy with a computed tomograph (CT) results in a procedure that enables…

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Aquilion 16 - A new CT concept in optimized patient care

Two university hospitals in Germany and Japan were the first worldwide to receive the Aquilion 16 high resolution computed tomograph (CT) from Toshiba Medical Systems for simultaneous recording of 16 body slices with extremely high image resolution. A computed tomography Aquilion 16 was put into operation on October 7, 2002 at the central campus of Charite Berlin (Figure 1). This is the third…

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Head and Neck Imaging

Multislice computed tomography (MS CT), which was introduced to clinical imaging as fourslice detectors in 1998 has fully proven its superior performance over conventional scanner technology. For example, it provides optimized resolution of detail and increased scan speed. Simultaneously, this technology has opened new indications for computed tomography, for example, in heart imaging. However,…

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A Small Primer on the Clinical Use of MSCT for Heart Exams

Because of the rapid technical and scientific development over the past few years, multislice computer tomography of the heart has become increasingly established in the clinical routine. This requires, among other things, knowledge of the anatomy of the coronary arteries, the meaningful evaluation of the calcium score and the appropriate reproduction of the function of the left ventricle.

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Optimization of Temporal and Spatial Resolution for Cardiac CT Diagnostics

Further developments in computer and detection technology over the last few months and years have made it possible to overcome, to a large degree, the previously limitations of medical computer tomography in spatial and temporal resolution, and thus to permit “detail-true” representation of the beating heart. The diagnostic workflow and computer-tomographic diagnosis of the heart using the…

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Aquilion 32

With the launch of the Aquilion 32, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation continues at the forefront of computed tomography (CT) technology. The most advanced 32-slice CT scanner available, the Aquilion provides increased patient comfort and the most flexible choice of speed and accuracy in CT scanning.

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Methods and Results of Radiation Exposure Reduction Using Multislice CT

The number of CT examinations undertaken over the past few years has increased remarkably worldwide due to the new diagnostic possibilities afforded by multislice computer tomography (MSCT). As the new technology is gaining ground, many researchers and radiologists are looking for ways to reduce patient radiation exposure. In 2001, Giacomuzzi et al.1 of Innsbruck reported an up to 2.6-fold…

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Virtual Coloscopy

Increasingly more importance is being ascribed to early detection of colon carcinoma and of its precursor stages, since there has been a practically twofold increase in the incidence of this disease in Germany over the past 20 years. With a combination of 1. case history, 2. rectal palpation result, 3.'blood in stools' test (haemoccult) and 4. coloscopy, many conspicuous changes to the intestinal…

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Optimization and Reduction of CT Radiation Exposure

The exposure of patients to radiation by computed tomography has been widely discussed in recent years, both by professionals and by the public. The essential reason for optimizing patient exposure is the basic desire to keep radiation dose at the lowest possible level. This requires above all organ-specific and patient-specific adjustment of the radiation exposure in order to achieve uniform…

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Tumour Characterization Using Micro Flow Imaging

Due to echogenicity differences in comparison with the surrounding liver tissue conventional B-mode-imaging sonography permits the unambiguous classification of the frequently occurring typical liver cysts (criteria: round, echo-free, smoothly demarcated, with edge shadows and sound through transmission) and calcifications (highly reflective, acoustic shadows). The detection and characterization…

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CT in Oncology

Modern oncology with its improved options holds out prospects for many novel curative and palliative procedures. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care these prospects can become reality, with radiology playing a pivotal role. This role encompasses imaging diagnostics for all tumour entities as well as diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.…

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Cardiac Multislice Computed Tomography (MSCT) Angiography

Spiral computed tomography first allowed the seamless acquisition of entire volumina without first separating them into individual slices. With the newest generation of MSCT devices having the 16-slice technology, short gantry rotation time of < 0.5 seconds, and a high performance processor, it is now possible to acquire large amounts of data in a short period of time with high spatial and…

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Diagnosis of Cardiac Diseases

For decades, non-invasive cardiac assessment has been at the center of interest. Non-invasive imaging modalities, such as MSCT, MRI, SPECT, PET, and echocardiography, provide valuable cardiac information, and all have been used to measure cardiac morphology, function, perfusion, viability of myocardium, and coronary anatomy for clinical management and research. The last decade brought major…

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Stroke Imaging: The Procedure in Practice

In the past, native computed tomography of the neurocranium (CCT) was often the only procedure to diagnose a stroke. Technical limitations of previous generations of scanners made their use impractical for complementary methods of visualising blood vessels or for perfusion imaging. With the introduction of multi-slice spiral CT these technical limitations disappeared and both perfusion CT (PCT)…

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Stroke Imaging: Foundations and Strategy

Diagnostic imaging is of particular value in investigating ischaemic cerebrovascular accidents since, due to the rapid progression of cell destruction in the region of the cerebral infarction, the radiologist is faced with urgent questions regarding a possible procedure. These questions may be answered particularly well using computed tomography (CT). The following article provides an overview…

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3D USCT nears reality

Back in the 70s, when scientists first speculated on the development of 3-D ultrasound computed tomography (3-D USCT) the available technology could not equal their dreams. Now, before the end of 2007, a prototype at Germany's Karlsruhe Research Centre will be used for the first in-vivo tests.

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Visualising the breathing lung

After previous meetings in the USA (2002) and Japan (2004), this October the 3rd International Workshop of Pulmonary Functional Imaging (IWPFI) took place in the German Cancer Research Centre, based in Heidelberg University, Germany. " 'The clinicians' need for earlier and more detailed diagnosis in pulmonary disease demands a joint interdisciplinary effort to push the limits in pulmonary…

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The RSNA 2005

Late in November and into early December, as icy air streamed over the shores of Lake Michigan - affirming the nickname `windy city´ for Chicago - radiologists continued to immigrate here en masse for their biggest annual gathering. This year the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) held its 91st annual meeting, parallel with the scientific congress and trade fair. The exhibition alone…

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Wheelchair guidance by facial movements

Visual interfaces facilitate natural and simple interfaces for human-robot interaction. Nowadays there are many applications using these, such as teleconferencing with improved visual sensation, virtual reality systems, lip readers, assistance for mobility assistance for the disabled, etc. The use of head movements and gestures offers a natural way for severely disabled people, who cannot use a…

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