A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

A broad consortium of private and public sector organizations, led by GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK), has secured HUF 895 million ($4.2 million) from the Hungarian government to research and develop new ways of monitoring the health of elderly citizens in their own homes.

GE Healthcare said it would invest an additional HUF 238 million ($1.1 million) in the collaborative research program.

Bringing together the expertise of healthcare companies with leading academic institutions in Hungary, the three-year program will involve the development of integrated systems and processes for the remote monitoring of the health of elderly citizens, particularly those who suffer from neurological diseases such as stroke, dementia and depression.

The consortium also will research and develop remote telemonitoring systems which monitor both activity levels and vital signs such as blood pressure and heart rate, alerting caregivers to changes that may signal potential health issues or emergency situations.

The consortium, led by GE Healthcare, includes Hungarian healthcare industry members Mednet 2000 and Meditech, together with the University of Pannonia at Veszprem, the University of Szeged and the Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution.

The consortium will employ 71 researchers and associates, and will create 23 new jobs in Hungary.

Welcoming the program, Dr. Károly Molnar, minister for research, science and innovation in Hungary, said, "This program offers an important opportunity for Hungary to take part in the development of innovative technologies to help older people. The rapidly aging population of Europe, including that of Hungary, requires new research to enable elderly citizens to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, as this is a really cost-efficient form of delivering healthcare."

He added that the Hungarian government is providing financial support to help the implementation of new ideas in the field of integrated homecare "because enhancing the security of the elderly is fully in line with the government's economic development strategy.

"We are confident that the members of the consortium the global company GE, two Hungarian companies and three Hungarian universities will be able to develop new info-communications tools and technologies that can be marketed not only in Hungary, but also in Europe and other countries worldwide in the future."

Omar Ishrak, president/CEO of GE Healthcare's Clinical Systems business, said, "Demographic changes such as growing aging populations present enormous healthcare challenges in the care of elderly citizens and the prevention and management of chronic disease. The consortium members are looking forward to working together to drive innovation in this emerging area."

GE Healthcare noted that home healthcare is a key business focus for the company, which has a strategic relationship with Living Independently Group, a provider of passive monitoring systems used to assist in the care of the elderly. In March, GE Healthcare acquired VersaMed, a provider of portable critical care ventilators for respiratory care which can be used in the home setting.

GE began operating in Hungary in 1993.

Philips to acquire Indian X-ray maker

Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) said it has reached an agreement to acquire Meditronics (Mumbai, India), a manufacturer of general X-ray systems targeting the economy segment in that country.

The transaction, which is subject to certain contractual and other conditions such as regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Upon completion of the deal, Meditronics will become part of the imaging systems business within Philips Healthcare (Best, the Netherlands/Andover, Massachusetts).

Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The planned acquisition is Philips' second within the last three months of a healthcare equipment maker in India specialized in supplying products for the economy segment. Philips reported in early September the acquisition of Alpha, a manufacturer of cardiovascular X-ray systems.

"The acquisition of Meditronics, just two months after we announced the acquisition of Alpha, highlights our accelerating efforts to expand our healthcare business in emerging markets and India in particular," said Philips CEO Gerard Kleisterlee.

He added, "This underlines our ... decision to step up investments in these high-growth areas while also delivering on our commitment to supply affordable healthcare solutions in emerging markets."

Swedish study backs probe testing

Misonix (Farmingdale, New York) reported that its Sonora Medical Systems (Longmont, Colorado) subsidiary, a supplier of after-market products, services and test equipment to the medical imaging market, presented an ultrasound probe study at the annual clinical engineering meeting held recently in Goteborg, Sweden.

The paper, which was presented by the School for Technology and Health, the Royal Technical University, and the biomedical engineering and clinical physiology departments of Karolinska University Hospital, was titled "Defective ultrasound transducers in Swedish hospitals."

Using the Sonora FirstCall probe testing system, the authors tested 704 probes in clinical use from 30 hospitals, representing seven ultrasound manufacturers. They found that 39.8% of the transducers tested had functional failures and that there was no statistical difference in the number of probe failures discovered on systems under service contract or not on service contract.

Among the conclusions presented was that "tests of transducers on a regular basis is, in our opinion, a necessity in order to minimize the risk that defective transducers are in use in our hospitals."

G. Wayne Moore, president/CEO of Sonora, said, "We have long known that as few as two dead elements in a transducer can materially impact the spectral Doppler in terms of both spectral broadening and mean velocity errors. Previously published studies on transducers in clinical use have shown 25% to 30% have undiagnosed functional failures."

He added: "The Swedish study underscores the need to test transducers on a regular basis to insure the clinical efficacy of the ultrasound examination, as well as the safety of the patient. The FirstCall transducer tester has become a standard in hospitals around the world in insuring the proper functionality of these ultrasound transducers."

Moore said Sweden has more First Calls per capita than any other country and requires First Call testing of probes prior to their use.

Sonora Medical's Test Instrument Division offers a wide range of ultrasound test equipment for original equipment manufacturers as well as hospital physicists, clinical and biomedical engineers.

Italian distributor signed by Itamar

Itamar Medical (Caesarea, Israel), a company developing noninvasive diagnostic systems using the Peripheral Arterial Tone (PAT) signal, has established a distribution agreement with EndoTech (Como, Italy) to bring Itamar Medical's Endo-PAT2000, which it said is "the first simple, office-based diagnostic test for the assessment of endothelial function," to the Italian market.

EndoTech specializes in the distribution and launch of innovative medical instrumentation technologies in Italy, with particular knowledge and experience in the cardiovascular field.

Itamar said this partnership will allow it to reach new market and distribution goals for the Endo-PAT2000.

"We are thrilled to partner with EndoTech in our efforts to bring the Endo-PAT2000 to Italy," said Itamar President/CEO Israel Schreiber. "This new cooperative agreement paves the way for patients in Italy to get tested with the Endo-PAT2000, providing them with a comprehensive picture of their endothelial cell function, a critical factor in cardiac health."

Health Canada okays Cepheid SSTI test

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, California) said Health Canada has issued a medical device license for its Xpert MRSA/SA Skin and Soft Tissue (SSTI) test for the rapid detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus aureus in skin and soft tissue infections.

Availability of the Xpert MRSA/SA SSTI test is expected to provide Canadian physicians and surgeons with a new tool to aid in selecting the most effective antibiotic therapy to improve patient management.

In less than one hour, the test processes specimens from suspected skin and soft tissue infection swabs to determine if a patient is infected with MRSA or SA. The new test runs on Cepheid's GeneXpert System, which the company terms "the world's leading healthcare-associated infection (HAI) molecular testing platform."

Rob Koska, Cepheid SVP of worldwide commercial operations, said, "The ability to accurately detect MRSA and SA in less than one hour is an important technological step forward in the management of both hospital-acquired and community-acquired infections."

A new six-year Queens University study, to be published in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, says that more than 250,000 Canadian patients experience infected surgical wounds, blood infections and antibiotic resistant organisms while in the hospital each year. The study also states that, since 1999, rates of MRSA have more than doubled from 2 per 1,000 hospital admissions across Canada to 5.2 per 1,000 admissions.