A Medical Device Daily

In an effort to drive innovation in endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), Medtronic (Minneapolis) has introduced an imaging and visualization service for endovascular specialists who use the company's portfolio of stent grafts to treat aortic aneurysms. Aortic aneurysms affect more than one million people in the U.S. and can rupture with fatal consequences if left untreated.

Enabled by a global partnership with Vital Images (Minnetonka, Minnesota), 3D Recon is a new service from Medtronic that converts 2-D CT axial images to 3-D images, offering advanced visualization of the anatomy and aneurysm measurement for device sizing. This technology allows physicians to streamline pre-case planning and patient follow-up. It is cleared by the FDA under a 510(k) granted to Vital Images.

"Our exclusive partnership with Vital Images gives endovascular specialists access to advanced visualization technology on a Medtronic field representative's laptop to enhance their use of Medtronic's aortic stent grafts," said Tony Semedo, VP/GM of the Endovascular Innovations division, part of the CardioVascular business at Medtronic. "3D Recon is a unique service that complements Medtronic's existing service offerings of CTeXpress, a remote DICOM image transfer service in partnership with Intelemage, and Stent Graft Tracker, software managing patient follow-up schedules."

In other agreements/contracts news:

• IMIX Americas (Sterling, Virginia), a provider of digital radiography (DR) products, has signed a cooperation agreement with Arcoma (Växjö, Sweden), which specializes in auto-positioning X-ray and radiology equipment. The agreement allows the companies to jointly offer a comprehensive line of affordable, high-quality DR solutions.

The agreement brings together two complementary companies. IMIX uses a detector technology in a variety of innovative DR systems. Arcoma offers a line of premium products, including stands, examination tables, and chest and skeletal units.

According to Sigrid Smitt-Jeppesen, president/CEO of IMIX Americas, the agreement results in expanded product offerings to better meet customer needs, including a dual-detector room with IMIX's new Slimline detector option, as well as a flex bucky option. The companies also will offer The Cube, an X-ray tube support, which allows customers to hang an overhead tube crane while minimizing construction work and costs.

Arcoma will begin sales of the full IMIX product line in the Western region of the U.S. immediately, and the two companies will work closely together to further develop the U.S. sales channels.

• The Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (both Montreal) officially opened its new combined MRI/operating room suite for image-guided neurosurgery. The Philips Achieva 3.0T X Series MRI scanner coupled with BrainSUITE iMRI is the first combination of its kind in North America. The suite was developed in partnership with BrainLAB (Andover, Massachusetts) and Royal Philips Electronics (Westchester, Illinois) to offer neurosurgeons at The Montreal Children's Hospital a tool to help increase surgical precision in the removal of brain tumors. BrainSUITE iMRI provides a real-time "road map" for surgeons in the OR by integrating intra-operative imaging with surgical navigation, planning and digital data management in the OR. BrainSUITE iMRI uses a digital navigation system to show the spatial position of surgical instruments combined with the 3-D MRI images of the brain acquired by the scanner. The high-resolution representation of a tumor's location, both prior to and during the surgery, helps guide the removal of tumors.

• Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Massachusetts) has been awarded a modification contract from the U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) that adds the company's Intravascular Temperature Management (IVTM) systems to the Federal Supply Schedule. Currently, the Zoll technology is the exclusive intravascular temperature management solution available on the FSS contract. Under the terms of the five-year agreement, VA hospitals and all branches of military hospitals can order ZOLL's IVTM against this contract, making the procurement of equipment easier without the need to go out for bid.

• Excelsior Medical (Neptune, New Jersey) has achieved a milestone with the signing of a national contract with HealthTrust Purchasing Group (Brentwood, Tennessee). The agreement provides the HealthTrust group purchasing membership with access to saline and heparin pre-filled flush syringes. The contract went into effect on Nov. 1, 2009.

• Mach 7 Technologies (Schaumberg, Illinois) has been awarded a multi-year product development agreement by Montefiore Medical Center (New York). The development will be undertaken using Mach 7 Technologies' flagship Keystone Suite, an Enterprise Image Management Platform that includes the Keystone Archive, Keystone Engine and Keystone Clinical Viewer. Montefiore Medical Center will have full use of the Keystone Suite to improve imaging workflow, enhance technologist and radiologist efficacy, and leverage existing IT systems while facilitating Montefiore's migration to new IT systems. The development effort will enable Montefiore to free the imaging data locked in old legacy PACS systems, while facilitating dramatically improved sharing of imaging data to improve clinical outcomes.

Mach 7 Technologies also reported that the company has signed an agreement with QStar Technologies (Mary Esther, Florida) to provide a combined PACS-neutral archive solution through their common U.S. distribution partner, Data Distributing (Santa Cruz, California). Under the agreement, Data Distributing will be able to provide healthcare enterprises in the PACS-neutral solution marketplace a complete end-to-end solution for PACS-Neutral Archiving, from image acquisition to technology-neutral storage management. A PACS-neutral strategy provides image archive continuity as older PACS systems are replaced. The combined Mach 7 and QStar solution eliminates the need for complex and costly image data migration, and also enables the sharing of archived images between multiple PACS systems.