A Medical Device Daily

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Columbia) said it has received 510(k) clearance to begin marketing the Quill SRS Polydioxanone (PDO), Monoderm and Nylon product lines in Canada.

"With the approval of the PDO, Monoderm and Nylon product lines in Canada, we can further extend the global reach of this next-generation suture product beyond the U.S. and Europe," said President/CEO Dr. William Hunter.

Quill SRS PDO is a longer-lasting absorbable suture, which is typically used for deeper tissue closures while Quill SRS Monoderm is made from a rapidly resorbing polymer and intended primarily for superficial wound closure applications and soft tissue approximation where use of an absorbable suture is appropriate.

The monofilament Quill SRS Nylon is a polyamide suture indicated for use in soft tissue approximation excluding closure of the epidermis.

Angiotech said Quill SRS "represents a revolutionary technology in wound closure made possible by bidirectional fixation within the wound."

The company said the products' design allows the surgeon to begin closure at the midpoint of the wound and suture in two directions from the midpoint. "Barbs within the Quill SRS distribute tension across the wound and eliminate the need for knots," according to Angiotech.

The product lines have previously been approved for sale in both the U.S. and Europe.

GE unveils products in Malaysia

GE Healthcare Information Technologies (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) used the HIMSS Asia Pac conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as a launching point for a new suite of Centricity solutions targeted for hospitals and outpatient imaging centers.

The company also released Centricity PACS Web Diagnostic (WebDX), a new web-based diagnostic viewer application that is tightly integrated to Centricity RIS/ PACS, which bring comprehensive detailed patient history to a single patient folder.

Building on Centricity's business process and advanced clinical capabilities, the new Centricity suite provides what GE Healthcare termed "the robust, web-based accessibility of IntegradWeb solutions through the acquisition from Dynamic Imaging."

"For optimal patient care, images and their related clinical information need to be available anywhere, at anytime," said Don Woodlock, vice president/general manager of GE Healthcare IT. "These web-based solutions will provide hospitals and outpatient imaging centers with streamlined workflow inside and outside of their walls. Better yet, referring physicians throughout the community will be serviced with simple, yet powerful access to imaging results."

The Centricity PACS-IW Solutions for hospitals will offer web-based portability, instantaneous image reporting and scalable business processes, GE said. "This single-desktop solution will drive practice efficiency, productivity for the radiologist and immediate results access for the referring physician by fostering a more collaborative approach to patient care and provider partnerships, thus driving better patient care and business practices in an increasingly competitive market," the company said in its announcement

Centricity PACS IW allows a radiologist to view images on any PC with regular monitors, but for diagnosis purposes, GE said it recommends Barco's (Kuurne, Belgium/Sacramento, California) Coronis 6MP monitors, "due to their impressive image quality, [and] accuracy ... offering two screens together with equal luminance, automatic calibration and broad usability."

Building on existing enterprise connectivity and comprehensive infrastructure of Centricity PACS, Centricity PACS WebDX provides an enterprise-wide archive, using EMC storage technology, for access to any type of image in one complete platform, GE said. Centricity PACS seamlessly integrates with RIS and EMR solutions to reduce paper.

Woodlock said Centricity PACS WebDX "enables the migration to a virtual environment, where information is delivered to the center of care through one desktop, one patient and one community."

Leksell Perfexion in first Japanese use

Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden) said Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, its new system for stereotactic radiosurgery, has been used for the first time in Japan to treat patients at the Jiro Suzuki Memorial Gamma House of Furukawa Seiryo Hospital (Miyagi).

The company said the 100-bed hospital has a strong neurosurgery program, and is the first in Japan to offer treatment with Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, an advanced radiosurgery treatment system for intracranial stereotactic radiosurgery or Gamma Knife surgery.

Hidefumi Jokura, MD, VP of Furukawa Seiryo and director of the hospital's Gamma Knife Center, said, "The sophistication of the technology is allowing us to treat more patients in less time. And importantly, both staff and patients appreciate the greater efficiency of the design, which results in reduced hospital visitation for the patient."

Jokura and his colleagues have treated 107 cases, 60% of them brain metastases, during the two first months of using the Perfexion system. "We now have the capability to treat three or four patients in just half a day a process that normally would have taken a full working day," Jokura said.

Leksell Gamma Knife is in daily use in more than 50 centers in Japan and Furukawa Seiryo Hospital currently utilizes Gamma Knife surgery to treat about 500 patients each year.

"With Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, we are further realizing our ambition of offering effective treatments for a wide range of neurological challenges; and are achieving this with a greater degree of positive outcomes and shorter patient treatment times than before," says Hideo Watanabe, managing director of Elekta Japan.

Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion, the latest version of the Leksell Gamma Knife systems, is a complete system for intracranial stereotactic radiosurgery or Gamma Knife surgery. It is designed to treat multiple targets, such as brain metastases.