ulrich medical, established 25 years ago, is an independent medium-size medical technology firm with worldwide sales. Among its products are contrast agent injectors for contrast agents used in computer and magnetic resonance tomography.
The Acuson P10 is a new portable ultrasound device, developed and manufactured by Siemens Medical Solutions. The new system in the size of a Blackberry embodies Point of Care Testing (POCT) abilities: It weighs a little more than 700 grams and could be used for earliest possible diagnostics in an intensive care unit, ambulance or medical helicopter, providing physicians with valuable information…
Some of the medical procedures and equipment showcased and discussed at the MEDICA 2007 are sure to provide medical experts with plenty of discussion material. In cardiac diagnostic imaging a minor revolution is taking place, with ultrasound procedures increasing in significance. But innovation in x-ray methods is also continuing.
The spatial-anatomic visualisation offered by MRI already provides immense diagnostic possibilities for cardiology. However, as yet, the potential of this imaging modality is far from exploited, according to Professor Bernd Hamm (right), of the Radiology Department at the Charité Hospital, Berlin. Daniela Zimmermann of European Hospital, asked him why.
A next-generation diagnostic tool for cardiovascular disease, using a nanoscale iron particle, is now under development at a unique industry-government-university named Nano AG. A report from Siemens describes the research and progress at the centre
It has only recently been discovered that very often it is not the size of the plaque in the coronary vessels but its inflammation status that determines the occurrence of a cardiac infarction.
By Thaddeus Chodakauskas BS RDMS and Steve Feinstein MD FACC
Turkey - The recently opened 74-bed Florence Nightingale Kiziltoprak Hospital, which has three operating rooms and 10 ICU beds, is one of four hospitals in a Turkish healthcare network.
Trends 2007 - ever smaller and smaller
Cardiac CT angiography (CTA) performed after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery can reveal a high prevalence of unsuspected cardiac and significant non-cardiac findings that might otherwise be overlooked, according to a study by researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Centre, Baltimore ('Cardiac CT Angiography after Coronary Bypass Surgery: Prevalence of Incidental Findings', Pub:…
Ischaemic stroke accounts for 80-85% of all cerebrovascular accidents and causes considerable morbidity and mortality, thereby placing a significant burden on western societies. In the UK alone, stroke costs amount to 10.4 billion EUR annually. These events commonly are a consequence of systemic atherosclerotic disease and with the internal carotid arteries supplying 75% of cerebral blood flow,…
Early functional evaluation of new treatments in oncology is of major importance. Overall survival rate is the best criterion for assessing treatment, but unfortunately it calls for lengthy follow-up whereas treatment efficacy must be ascertained as soon as possible. The morphological criteria normally used (WHO or RECIST) do not lend themselves easily to new therapies which often induce lesion…
With 715 beds, the University Hospital Maastricht is one of the leading hospitals in the Netherlands. The modern building offers 22 operating theatres and in 2005 24,362 patients were admitted. Due to rotating staff systems and multidisciplinary responsibilities in diagnostic imaging departments in large hospitals like the University Hospital Maastricht, the workflow has to be as easy as possible…
Ever heard this from a patient? 'Wouldn't it be great if it was in colour.' It's true; B mode lacks the glamour of Doppler. We're guilty of it ourselves, we love Doppler. How frequently do we hear 'did you put colour on that'? When was the last time you asked 'how much temporal smoothing did you use'? And yet every time I watch others scan I witness Sonographers scanning from various angles,…
Following the installation of a 0.5-T superconducting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system at our hospital in 1987, we have been performing a large number of examinations as a key regional hospital serving the city of Muroran, Hokkaido, and surrounding areas. However, compared with more recently developed MRI systems, 0.5-T systems tend to have poorer image quality and a restricted range of…
Endoscopic Ultrasound with Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) capability is relatively new for Toshiba. Recently the company has introduced a transducer enabling gastroenterologists to perform these kinds of examinations. Dr. Paul Fockens (PhD), Director of Endoscopy at the Academic Medical Centre (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, is an expert in this field. He has been Director of…
In 1999, the Aquillion/MULTI and Asteion/MULTI multi-slice systems with highly integrated 34-channel detector system, both consisting of a total of 30,464 detector elements, were introduced. On the basis of such a structured detector matrix, a new image reconstruction procedure was used. This so called MUSCOT (Multislice Conebeam Tomography) procedure made the dream of an isotropic voxel in the…
Even today, 105 years later, the X-rays have not lost their fascination and importance. The discovery of X-rays in November 1895 by the physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen introduced the 'X-ray era' and caused great change in all areas of life. One of the most fascinating fields of research is the analysis of works of art by means of X-rays. The 'anatomical structure', i.e. the composition of the…
The past several years, interventions using ultrasound for real-time image monitoring in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures have increasingly been integrated into the daily clinical routine. Limitations due to image-distorting physical effects, such as the total reflection at the soft tissue/lung boundary, are associated with the use of ultrasound. CT fluoroscopy on the other hand enables…
Case 1 50-year-old male with a colorectal cancer. Greyscale imaging clearly shows the lesion, as an echogenic 3 cm mass (Fig.l a), which must be considered as suspicious for a metastasis from his colorectal cancer but benefit of the doubt must be given. Colour Doppler (Fig. 1b) is not helpful. At 33 seconds after SonoVue injection (early sinusoidal phase), Vascular Recognition Imaging (VRI)…
Impairment of left ventricular relaxation may lead to pulmonary congestion and symptoms of heart failure even in patients with preserved systolic function. Doppler echocardiography has become the non-invasive method of choice for the assessment of both systolic and diastolic dysfunction. However, Doppler-derived parameters such as mitral inflow velocity, deceleration time and isovolumic…
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…
Image quality has been the most important criterion in CT scanner development for both radiologists and manufacturers, due to the diagnostic value of these systems. Recently, considerable concern has been expressed about the radiation dose to patients from CT examinations because: - CT delivers a higher dose than conventional film-screen examinations - Technological advances in CT have…
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…
Over the last years Toshiba has actively participated in the development of Contrast Harmonic Imaging. Around 1996 one of the first agents that became available on the European market was Levovist TM (Schering AG, Berlin, Germany). This was a galactose-based contrast agent. Levovist could be used as a Doppler signal enhancer throughout the entire vascular system. With the development of these…
