• Eastman Kodak’s (Rochester, New York) Health Group has introduced new medical imaging and information systems designed to enhance efficiency and improve patient care by offering faster, more accurate diagnostic results. The new products unveiled at this week’s American Healthcare Radiology Administrators annual meeting include a digital imaging system and software that the company said improves image analysis and information management. The products include the Kodak Directview CR 975 System, a computed radiography system that provides better visualization than prior systems for areas of the body that are traditionally difficult to image, according to the company. It said wait times may be shortened due to the CR 975 system’s rapid processing of digital images. Also introduced was a new Kodak radiology information system designed for outpatient imaging centers that the company said streamlines the scheduling of patient exams and provides tools for better utilization of employees and imaging equipment. It said the information system also expedites the delivery of reports and images to referring physicians.

• Nipro Diabetes Systems (Miramar, Florida) has introduced the Amigo Insulin Pump to help keep blood glucose in control for children and adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The Amigo Insulin Pump features computer-like help screens for easy programming, the company said. The Amigo Insulin Pump delivers basal insulin throughout the day and night, allowing the wearer to program insulin whenever needed. It utilizes rapid-acting insulin that is similar to the insulin produced by the human pancreas, Nipro said. The company describes the Amigo as a “smart” pump because it is capable of calculating bolus insulin for food and high blood glucose readings through parameters prescribed by the physician and stored in the pump. The pump offers four basal profiles with up to 48 basal rates in a 24-hour period and a temporary profile that can be set in either units per hour or a percentage of the current basal profile. It delivers insulin every three or 15 minutes in as little as five-hundredths of a unit.

• Power3 Medical Products (The Woodlands, Texas) said it has converted two provisional patent applications by the filing of two utility patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the company’s disease-specific biomarker discovery and disease-specific immunodiagnostic test designs. These patent applications are being filed to protect the platform technologies the company is using in conjunction with major research institutions in the Houston area to develop disease-specific diagnostic tests for neurodegenerative disease, breast cancer and drug resistance. The company said the applications are two of nine utility patents pending, 12 provisional patent applications and one issued patent owned or licensed by Power3, a proteomics company engaged in the discovery of protein footprints, pathways and mechanisms of diseases.

• Stereotaxis (St. Louis) reported that the first automated mapping of a patient’s left atrial heart chamber in conjunction with an atrial fibrillation ablation procedure was completed using the company’s Niobe Magnetic Navigation System. The automated mapping feature allowed Carlo Pappone, MD, PhD, of San Raffaele University Hospital (Milan, Italy), to move a magnetically navigated catheter to more than 100 places in the chamber of a beating heart in about 10 minutes, all with a touch of a button on the Niobe system. Stereotaxis said it believes that its Niobe system will be able to improve both the efficiency and efficacy of mapping procedures, while making the time required to perform the procedure more predictable. In addition, the consistent “soft-touch” contact with the heart wall unique to magnetically navigated catheters may reduce the risk of perforation while providing a more accurate map of the patient’s anatomy than can be achieved via manual navigation, according to the company.