A double-edged sword would be a good analogy for diagnostic imaging in 2010. New ways to utilise imaging technologies are being developed, imaging equipment is doing more, faster than ever, and image processing software is increasingly innovative. Today's radiology exams are ‘slicing’ through the body to reveal anatomy with increasing clarity for better diagnoses and therapeutic treatment…
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that they may be able to monitor the aging process in the brain, by using MRI technique to measure the brain lactic acid levels. Their findings suggest that the lactate levels increase in advance of other aging symptoms, and therefore could be used as an indicator of aging and age-related diseases of the CNS.
EIZO GmbH, Display Technologies and Ondal Industrietechnik GmbH announce their partnership to provide monitor carrying systems, monitors and accessories as system solutions. These are suitable to use in interventional radiology as well as in standard and hybrid operating rooms.
With the greyscale display MS31i2, Totoku has introduced the first 3 Megapixel with ISD Technology. The high resolution display is suitable especially for X-ray diagnosis and thorax images, the company reports, adding: ‘With its high brightness of up to 1500 cd/m² it offers a very long backlight lifetime.’
It’s been around for decades, re-emerged in the ’90s and, today, experts see a bright future for tomosynthesis technology. Thus its progress and future developments, plus specialist uses (e.g. breast) will be a particular feature at the Radiological Society of North America scientific assembly and annual meeting in Chicago this year.
Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a promising new technology that acquires 3-D breast images. The individual images are presented as thin, high-resolution slices, which can be displayed individually or in a dynamic cine mode. Preliminary studies in a clinical setting have demonstrated that this new technology has the potential to improve not only the breast cancer detection but also to reduce…
Founded in 1981, IT solutions provider cobixx is a highly successful WLAN solutions innovator, an expertise now recognised by Cisco, a world leader in internet network solutions. Cisco’s Advanced Specialised Partner status is awarded solely to providers with a proven track record of competence in design, construction and maintenance of unified wireless LAN solutions. Denise Hennig reports
Agfa HealthCare is focused on providing excellent imaging solutions to support clinical confidence and improve delivery of health outcomes. At RSNA 2010, the company will demonstrate its engineered solutions that optimize the radiology workflow all along the imaging chain. By bringing the power of IT to radiology, we deliver tools that promote strong collaboration between healthcare providers and…
Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is a promising new technology that acquires 3-dimensional images of the breast. The individual images are presented as thin high-resolution slices that can be displayed individually or in a dynamic cine mode. Preliminary studies in a clinical setting have demonstrated that this new technology has the potential to improve not only the detection of breast cancers…
Late in 2009, GE Healthcare’s 64 slice PET/CT Discovery 690 began its use in the University Clinic for Nuclear Medicine in Innsbruck, Austria. Apart from routine clinical examinations for treatment control via FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose), the scanner is also employed in clinical research - particularly for Gallium 68DOTA PET/CT examination.
Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) division developed and supplied monitors exclusively for Siemens Medical until, about 20 years ago, the customer base expanded and A&D ultimately supplied almost all major medical technology firms with monitors for integration into their systems. In 2007, Siemens decided to focus on its core business and sell off its medical monitors division.
After years of go-slow adoption and cautious optimism, European cardiologists are now embracing remote monitoring of cardiac electrophysiology devices. ‘We are at the dawn of a new era,’ concluded Dr Philippe Ritter, Chairman of the Cardiostim 2010 congress, after reviewing findings of studies that delivered unequivocal evidence that remote monitoring is not only a safe alternative to clinic…
New imaging technologies are opening a new chapter in interventional cardiology by offering something this widely practiced procedure has been missing -- vivid clinical evidence to assess effectiveness. Interventional cardiology has moved rapidly from opening blocked arteries by crushing plaque with inflatable balloons to reinforcing the walls of the re-opened arteries with flexible metal stents…
In the historical city of Gouda, in the Netherlands, the 441-bed Groene Hart Ziekenhuis (Green Heart Medical Centre) employs about 150 doctors and serves a local population of 450,000 people. Last September it became the first hospital in Europe to install the new Carestream Cardiology PACS. Launched in 2009, the PACS provides a single integrated platform for diagnosis, reporting, storage and…
In Switzerland, they say, the clocks tick a little slower than elsewhere in the world. Not at Schiller AG in Baar, however: The company remains forever ahead of the times. Since 1971, physicist Alfred E Schiller, the company’s founder and managing director, has successfully shown competitors in the tough intensive and emergency care market what innovative progress really means.
Not only is heart failure one of the single biggest causes of morbidity and mortality in man, but the incidence of the condition is steadily increasing. Rising to this challenge, innovative medical diagnostic techniques with ever greater performance are constantly being introduced so that early, unambiguous detection of the underlying condition is now possible, enabling the prompt initiation of…
The identification of cardiometabolic risk is one of the most frequently performed standard examinations, which many European health insurers even require for patients of a certain age. Up to now, physicians had to calculate the value manually on the basis of certain parameters – a time-consuming task. Seca, which specialises in medical scales, now offers 360° wireless, which not only measures…
The landmark achievements in interventional cardiology that are rapidly advancing minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) on a beating heart were demonstrated during a Paris course on revascularisation (EuroPCR), the annual meeting of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).
During the Forum MedTech Pharma (30 June to 1 July, Nuremberg, Germany)Texas Instruments discusses the impact of semiconductor innovation on the development of medical equipment. ‘As an integrated circuit (IC) provider we sell both analogue and digital solutions to system houses, which then integrate the product,’ explained Dr Karthik Vasanth, Medical Business Unit Product Line Manager at…
Dr Alice Gillams, who heads the image guided tumour ablation programme at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), reported at this year’s ECR that Hitachi’s Real-time Virtual Sonography (HI RVS) fusion imaging technique can achieve more precise radiofrequency ablation (RFA).
Clinicians all over the world use GE Healthcare products and solutions to anesthetize patients. The breakthrough ideas of a small Ohio company in 1910, the predecessor to the anesthesia division of GE Healthcare, have evolved into innovations that continue to open new frontiers in anesthesia. Today, GE Healthcare provides anesthesia technologies in many countries worldwide, collaborating closely…
Siemens Healthcare was presenting its latest solutions for the early detection and treatment of breast cancer at the German Radiology Congress in Berlin. These Breast Care Solutions include a variety of imaging procedures, such as ultrasound, mammography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), supplemented by IT and laboratory diagnostic solutions. Siemens places special focus on the third…
The volcanic ash creating widespread no-fly zones had no significant impact on the success of conhIT, Germany’s largest healthcare IT event; for three days in April some 3,500 experts were there to discuss current trends in their field and visit the IT trade fair to assess new solutions and products. One topic central to this year’s event was the convergence of IT and medical technology,…
The journey into the self becomes reality: Siemens Healthcare and Olympus Medical Systems Corporation announce collaborative development of advanced magnetically guided capsule endoscope system for intragastric observation Siemens Healthcare and Olympus Medical Systems Corporation are collaborating on the development of a technology for a magnetically guided capsule endoscope (MGCE) system.
Carestream Health announced it is taking orders for its CARESTREAM DRX-Mobile Retrofit Kit that will allow healthcare providers to upgrade selected mobile x-ray systems to wireless DRX-1 technology. This wireless DR system can help increase on-site productivity and deliver immediate access to images for improved patient care, especially for critically ill patients in emergency rooms, operating…