Transcatheter valve implants (TAVI) have encouraged a new group of patients. Previously inoperable, they may now receive adequate treatment. Some centres report a success rate close to the conventional open surgical procedure. Naturally, the long-term outcome is still unclear. Holger Zorn reports.
Mechanical suturing tools are an indispensable part of modern surgery. Gastro-intestinal surgery as well as minimally invasive surgeries, would be unthinkable without this technology, a growing sub-market in an ever-growing industry, possibly driven by the patient’s benefit, writes Holger Zorn.
Rapid technological progress and the changed working patterns of surgeons has greatly increased the demand of simulated training in the United Kingdom, notes Professor Mike Larvin, Director of RCS Education at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, where a new Education and Simulation Centre is incorporating state-of-the-art education and training facilities in response to those changes.
The new cloud hovering over the IT industry bodes pleasant and sunny business weather. Reason enough for the organisers of CeBIT 2011, the large international IT event held in Hanover this March, to make ‘cloud computing’ the keynote theme, dubbed ‘Work and Life with the Cloud’. EH reporter Walter F Schäfer questions what cloud computing is and what promise it might hold for healthcare…
Korea has a large, diverse and vibrant medical device manufacturing industry, which has boomed in recent decades due to the rapid growth of the country’s economy. The scale of its medical industry was very evident at the 27th Korea International Medical and Hospital Equipment Show (KIMES) held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre (COEX) in March.
The global software provider TeraRecon is recognised for strong clinical applications containing advanced image processing and 3-D visualisation for CT, MRI and PET. Since May 2010, this Silicon Valley company (Frost & Sullivan’s 2010 ‘Company of the Year Award’ winner, for European Advanced Visualisation Applications) has been expanding its core business into cloud computing services…
Michael Maher, Professor of Radiology at the University Collage, Cork, Ireland, produced an answer to during a GE Healthcare Lunch Symposium at the European Congress of Radiology this March. It is 1.2 millisievert – at least for abdominal CT scans of Crohn’s disease patients.
The German Medical Technology Association BVMed advocates for clear perspectives for medical technology innovations. "There is a need for a common strategic positioning of industry, science, and politics on research, development, and innovation in medical technology in Germany , states BVMed chairman Dr. Meinrad Lugan in the newly published Annual Report 2010/11.
Doctors who used a free iPhone application provided by the UK Resuscitation Council performed significantly better in a simulated medical emergency than those who did not, according to a study in the April issue of Anaesthesia.
Cold is not only a winter topic. Cold is also applied medicine: Moderate to deep hypothermia made cardiac surgery possible and mild therapeutic hypothermia improves survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. By Holger Zorn
Supporter und platform for systems in the area of diagnostic imaging: The innovative Austrian company Mides again represented itself at the ECR – the European Congress of Radiology –in Vienna. As Europe-wide specialist in the field of ultrasound probe repair, Mides this year for the first time appears as retailer of high-quality CT and MRI devices.
Hitachi Medical Systems presents the HI VISION Ascendus for the first time in Europe at the ECR (European Congress of Radiology) in Vienna. The HI VISION Ascendus offers high definition imaging, advanced technological functionality and optimised ergonomics in one all-inclusive package. As the latest addition to the HI VISION series of ultrasound systems – joining the HI VISION Preirus and HI…
At ECR 2011, Agfa HealthCare is showing its richest direct radiography (DR) portfolio ever. These DR solutions address a broad diversity of imaging needs, but always deliver productivity and workflow improvement benefits, combined with very high image quality.
2011 Siemens launches Mobilett Mira, its first mobile digital X-ray system with a wireless detector. The detector sends image data via W-LAN to an integrated imaging unit and particularly facilitates examinations of patients that are critically ill and have only limited mobility. Moreover, a new, rotating swivel arm increases ease of use for the clinical staff. Mobilett Mira will be introduced…
Vienna - For the 23rd time, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is opening its doors to welcome 19,000 participants from over 90 countries. The scientific exchange of knowledge and the presentation of the latest developments in the field of radiology will again be presented right in the heart of Europea. In an inaugural press conference on March 3rd, the hot topics of the congress were…
These are exciting times for Carestream. The former film supplier is morphing into a genuine IT provider. Since its incorporation in 2007, the company has been investing many resources in the development of its portfolio with products that include systems for medical and dental imaging, IT solutions, molecular imaging and digital X-ray as well as digital products for non-destructive testing.
Looking at the 5th dimension of a CT image is old hat. Back in the 1980s there were many installations with rapid kV switching, a dual energy procedure, which were mainly used for bone density measurements. Basically, the 5th dimension is the ability to determine the atomic number as well as density of materials, which facilitates tissue differentiation even when there is the same attenuation.
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…
Thinking of the future of imaging, inevitably PET-MRI springs to mind. The fascination of this novel hybrid technology is great, seeing how it combines the best from three imaging areas: anatomy, function and metabolism. The further development of functional procedures in oncology is raising particularly high expectations. However, how extensive the use of this potentiated image information will…
It’s digital mammography taken to the next level – or, so to speak, the next dimension as digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) that provides high resolution 3-D imaging. For about two years this exciting technology has promised to become the magic bullet in the early detection of breast cancer, particularly in the dense breast.
A multi-centre French study is demonstrating that a four-minute ultrasound scan using a contrast agent can be performed after the first month of treatment and provide quantitative proof of whether a tumour is responding to the therapy.
In 2005, when they founded the French ultrasound company SuperSonic Imagine, Jacques Souquet PhD and Claude Cohen-Bacrie had to convince radiologists that they not only offered a new product but also a completely new ultrasound technology that could measure entirely new parameters.
Held near Kobe, Japan, the Joint Meeting of the International Workshop and the Japanese Society of Pulmonary Functional Imaging drew in more than 250 international researchers and clinicians who work at the forefront of pulmonary functional imaging
Often a life-saving intervention, mechanical ventilation also has some serious drawbacks: the need for sedation, the risk of ventilator associated pneumonia, intubation or tracheostomy related complications. In 1972, Donald Hill from Pacific Medical Centre, Los Angeles, reported the first successful long-term mechanical lung assist device with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
This March, Dräger Medical will bring to the bedside of respiratory patients an innovative new monitor that vividly shows, breath-by-breath, their response to treatment. After shifting a patient’s position, or adjusting the respirator setting, or delivering a drug to open airways, physicians and nurses will be able to watch in real-time the response inside the patient’s lungs.
