A Medical Device Daily

As attendees at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA; Chicago) gathered for the organization's annual meeting that began Sunday and continues to the end of the week, company personnel rolled up their sleeves to put their firms' best foot forward in the sprawling exhibit halls of the McCormick Place convention center.

A sampling of the vendors' product launches ranges from disease-specific computer-aided detection (CAD) systems to mammography devices targeting patients with difficult-to-image dense tissue.

Siemens Medical Solutions (Hoffman Estates, Illinois) said it plans to present its latest molecular imaging technologies at RSNA. Siemens is launching its high-definition positron emission tomography (HD*PET), a PET technology said to offer consistently sharper and clearly defined images across the entire field of view.

The company said the clarity achieved by HD/PET is the result of a proprietary technology that optimizes the elements of image uniformity, resolution and contrast — that together "change the whole picture."

Siemens said that historically with PET imaging, intrinsic image quality has been known to degrade with increasing distance from the center of the detector. HD*PET eliminates this effect, thus providing increased diagnostic confidence to more accurately resolve peripheral lesions. This, in turn, could potentially improve diagnosis and staging of disease and clinical outcomes, according to the company.

Advanced Imaging Technologies (Richland, Virginia) reported that its ARIA Breast Imaging System (BIS), a real-time through-wave ultrasound imaging system that uses the diffractive properties of sound combined with holography to create highly-detailed, 3-D images of breast tissue, is now equipped for image-guided biopsy.

The automated system is reported to provide superior views of breast tissue, especially dense tissue, while delivering better data for enhanced diagnostic decision-making.

Women with dense breast tissue have had few options, as mammography is ineffective for dense tissue. ARIA BIS penetrates dense tissue, is automated with whole- breast presentation capabilities and provides high spatial and contrast resolution. In addition, the system allows for retrieval of prior comparative studies for quick cross-correlation with known landmarks for year to year comparison.

Jeanette Griscavage-Ennis, PhD, manager, clinical applications, said, "The data we capture is saturated with critical information that is important for diagnostic procedures such as biopsy. Our real-time image-guidance capabilities provide physicians with precision for improved biopsy accuracy."

Radlink (Redondo Beach, California) will launch three distinct CR Pro machines, each designed for a specific profile, and an inexpensive PACS offering designed and priced specifically for the private practice environment.

"By drawing on our innovative technology and the depth of professional experience in the radiology industry that we have on our team, Radlink is expanding the availability of digital informatics for all levels of medicine through uniquely targeted engineering," said Thomas Hacking, chairman and chief executive officer of Radlink. "This process eliminates various hardware and software that just isn't needed and only adds cost at the clinical level, which in turn enables us to deliver this new family of machines and our new PACS offering at costs well below the norm in the industry."

In other news from RSNA:

• Confirma (Bellevue, Washington) said it has launched CADstream for prostate for improved analysis and reporting of the prostate. The prostate application will offer radiologists comprehensive tools for improved quality, standardization and efficiency of MRI studies. Confirma also plans to introduce CADstream for breast MRI. "Over the past five years, CADstream for breast MRI has received broad-scale acceptance from the women's imaging community," said Wayne Wager, president and CEO, Confirma. "We believe that prostate research studies and ongoing development with our clinical sites will help establish CAD within the men's imaging community. CAD provides physicians with valuable tools to improve the detection of cancer and treatment planning."
• Connect Imaging (Honolulu, Hawaii) reported it would debut its PACS Dashboard. CEO Philip Manly said PACS Dashboard allows radiology staff to use a web-based graphic interface to monitor PACS throughput both in summary and in detail. Manly said the company chose a web-based interface to allow monitoring from any network-connected computer. "Our systems are tailor-made to accommodate even extremely complex workflow," he said. "There is a significant unmet need for customized PACS — not only in imaging centers and smaller hospitals, but also in specialty practices such as neonatology, cardiology and orthopedics." Connect Imaging also is introducing an update to its DICOM Distributor. The updated version provides comprehensive, detailed tracking of all studies sent and received. Examples of data include the number of images sent for studies in the queue, and the date, time, and number of images sent for studies with complete transmission.
• Imix Americas (Sterling, Virginia) reported it has launched the Imix insight line of digital radiography products for a variety of imaging applications. The line of digital radiography products displayed by Imix at RSNA will include: — PanoRAD, a universal, full-function digital radiography system. — NovoRAD, which provides the flexibility of a dual-detector room with just one detector. — OrthoRAD, a partially motorized, straight-arm stand specifically designed for the orthopedic market. Sigrid Smitt-Jeppesen, president and CEO of Imix Americas, said, "The Imix insight systems provide exceptional value, especially for mid-to low-volume users who might not be able to support traditionally expensive DR solutions, but need more functionality and better workflow than offered by analog or CR systems."