• Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics (Deerfield, Illinois) reported the introduction of the MicroScan WalkAway plus systems for mid- and high-volume clinical diagnostic microbiology laboratories. The systems offer simultaneous automation of overnight, rapid and specialty panels that test for both gram negative and gram positive bacteria. The WalkAway also offer automation features that improve laboratory productivity by decreasing system maintenance activity. The two new instrument models - a 40- panel capacity model for medium-volume laboratories and a 96-panel capacity model for high-volume laboratories will replace the current WalkAway SI 40 and 96 Systems. Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics offers healthcare providers the broadest range of diagnostic products and services that are used for diagnosing medical conditions, monitoring patient therapy and providing quality health care.

• SonoSite (Bothell, Washington) reported it has begun worldwide shipments of its S Series ultrasound tools. Based on the company’s fourth generation technology platform, the S Series product line combines the processing power, image quality and advanced data management features of SonoSite’s M-Turbo system with a customized user interface to address the specific needs of four clinical specialties. The S Series product line includes the S-FAST for emergency medicine physicians, the S-Nerve for anesthesiologists, the S-Cath for interventionalists and the S-ICU for intensivists. SonoSite makes of point-of-care, hand-carried ultrasound devices.

• USGI Medical (San Clemente, California) said that its EndoSurgical Operating System (EOS) is the first surgical platform to effectively close a gastrotomy (an incision in the stomach wall) during a NOTES procedure in the U.S. In NOTES, a small camera and surgical instruments, like the EOS, are passed through the body’s natural orifices to operate on abdominal organs without making external incisions into the body. Because NOTES procedures require no skin incisions, they are expected to result in less pain, lower risk of wound infection and reduced recovery time as compared to traditional surgery and may eventually be performed with the patient under sedation, rather than general anesthesia.The USGI EOS includes the TransPort Multi-lumen Operating Platform, the g-Prox tissue grasper and approximation device, g-Cath tissue anchors and a variety of endosurgical tissue graspers. USGI specializes in incisionless technology.

• Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, California) has received FDA clearance for a new proton scanning dose algorithm that offers clinicians greater control over how proton beams are used to target tumors and other abnormalities. The new algorithm, which has been incorporated into Varian’s Eclipse treatment planning software, makes it possible to plan for intensity modulated proton therapy by optimizing dose distributions in three dimensions in order to protect surrounding healthy tissues. This proton scanning technique improves on current proton delivery methods that require a therapist to enter and exit the treatment room numerous times throughout a treatment to adjust physical compensators for processing proton beams. Proton therapy uses a particle accelerator to generate a beam of protons and deposit them accurately within tumors while sparing adjacent healthy tissues and organs. Unlike the more common photon radiotherapy, with beams that pass all the way through the patient’s body, proton therapy beams can be designed to stop and distribute most of their radiation dose at the depth of the tumor. Varian Medical Systems makes integrated cancer therapy systems.