Greg Freiherr

Sites saddled with an aging PACS have to worry, at least a little, about the transition to a new one. Homewood, IL-based Laitek considered the problem of getting from PACS A to B in the development of an enhanced data migration package, dubbed Migratek Version 2 Advanced Migration Services, which debuted at RSNA 2008.

If digital radiography beckons but funds are a problem, Viztek may have the answer. The company introduced at RSNA 2008 a turnkey CR/PACS. Its new Opal-MD combines enterprise-level Opal-RAD PACS with Kodak’s Point-of-Care CR. The value-priced package is designed specifically for private practice physicians, yet it will deliver a range of advanced features. These include digital image viewing in multiple exam rooms, image autorouting, CD burning, and film printing.

PET niche developer Naviscan arrived at the RSNA meeting with permission from the FDA to launch its Stereo Navigator, a biopsy guidance feature for its breast-specific PET scanner. Stereo Navigator can localize lesions as small as 2 mm. It uses a stereotactic frame fixed between the scanner’s paddles to guide a biopsy needle into the breast. Localization is verified using a PET-visible line source inserted into the needle track. This allows the user to confirm trajectory and position. The PET-guidance accessory is compatible with biopsy devices from Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Hologic, and SenoRx.

PACS/IT vendor Emageon and teleradiology provider Virtual Radiologic showcased teleradiology products at the RSNA meeting. Emageon’s Outside Study Gateway (OSG) allows facilities to transmit PACS images to a recipient hospital’s PACS. Studies are transmitted securely across a virtual private network, with OSG software automatically performing integrity checks of the data.

The superpremium Discovery CT750 HD (high definition) CT scanner debuted Sunday in the GE Healthcare booth. It features technology shown as work-in-progress at last year’s RSNA meeting that boosts spatial resolution to 230 microns and improves contrast resolution 33% in the body to 21.5 lp/cm and 47% in the heart to 14 lp/cm, according to the company.

Invivo introduced at RSNA 2008 its sixth-generation vital signs monitor for use in MR suites. The Precess Patient Management Configuration uses the industry’s first wireless ECG and wireless SpO2 patient vital signs. Built on the company’s flagship Precess 3160 platform, the new system features a flexible mounting that allows attachment to anesthesia machines, a wall, or an MRI table.

Enhancements in breast imaging mark the latest ultrasound upgrade from Philips Healthcare. Tissue aberration correction technology and algorithms built into the Vision 2009 upgrade for its iU22 radiological flagship are part of an integrated effort to better define tissue in fatty breasts, according to the company. An enabling technology is the Philips PureWave transducer and its coded beamformer, which have been present on earlier technologies.

Elastrography forms the cornerstone of an ultrasound system unveiled by first-time RSNA exhibitor SuperSonic Imagine. The Aixplorer system is dedicated to breast imaging. It differentiates healthy from cancerous tissues by quantifying differences in the elasticity of the tissues. SuperSonic’s ShearWave Elastography technique produces consistent results regardless of the operator’s skill, according to the company.

“Skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is,” Wayne Gretzky said.

Ultrasound contrast agents took a hit on the chin a year ago when the FDA decided to issue a black-box label for them warning physicians of potentially fatal reactions. The black-box labeling of the echocardiography agents was imposed after more than 100 cases of serious cardiopulmonary reactions and at least four deaths from cardiac arrest were reported during their administration.

It seems like we have been waiting forever for PACS to arrive. The first of these systems appeared three decades ago, an anomaly on the RSNA exhibit floor. They were the harbingers of a technology whose use, unlike that of CT or MR scanners, produced no revenue. Their adoption required so much: an embrace of efficiency, the digitalization of radiography, and a willingness to soft-read every imaging study.

When it comes to drugs, there is a huge gulf between off-label prescription and off-label promotion. One is legal, the other is not. For the most part, medical imaging doesn’t get involved in either, although there are exceptions. Contrast-enhanced MR angiography is one.

Siemens Healthcare wants to move PET/CT into the radiology department. The German multimodality vendor, a pioneer in PET and an innovator in CT technology, plans to accomplish this with a hybrid scanner that integrates off-the-shelf components from these two modalities into a spectrum of possibilities united by design and marketing elements oriented toward radiologists.

CT vendors have diverged this year as never before, choosing technological paths to new generations of scanners that reflect their own particular engineering strengths and history of R&D. Core developments by each have translated into novel capabilities. Software and mechanical fixes have countered weaknesses.

MR vendors have been chipping away at new clinical applications for years. They have pointed to 3T as the means to expand routine practice in ways that are not routine, adding computing engines to handle the massive volumes of data that would gush forth, expanding data pipelines, building out coils with extended channels-in short, creating the infrastructure to support a new diagnostic order. This year, they mean business.

It’s been a long time coming. Nearly a decade has passed since ATL took a serious run at advancing the medical art of breast cancer diagnosis. The company, long-since absorbed by Philips Healthcare, developed a novel algorithm designed for its Ultramark 9 HDI, later adapted for its HDI 3000 and 5000.

The inherent strengths of ultrasound-low cost, wide availability,nonionizing radiation-make this modality a favorite to getthe diagnostic ball rolling.

Ultrasound will step into thepolitically charged environs ofwomen's health and address thevagaries of today's financial challengesat this year's RSNA meeting.

Advanced visualization is worming its way into PACS. Once-dedicated workstations are being democratized to support network access, thin-client servers gel with PACS, and native code embeds sophisticated postprocessing. The technology is no longer exclusively 2D.

Later this year, Carestream Health will release for testing a PACS algorithm that automatically registers several data sets, synchronizing slices to allow comparison of present and prior CT and MR exams. By early next year, this capability is expected to be at the fingertips of Carestream PACS owners.

The patient who reported for a CT scan at the Spring Valley imaging center in Las Vegas complained of headaches, but the images returned by the newly installed AquilionOne CT scanner indicated something much worse was probably on the way. Neuroradiologist Dr. William Orrison defined a major region of hypoperfusion in the brain, a warning sign that the patient was at risk of stroke.

High-temp superconductors, implantable ultrasound, 256-slice CT systems pledge to remake landscape of medical imaging

Siemens extends field-of-view, Philips offers time-of-flight, introducing speedy exams to whole-body imaging

It’s been a long time coming, but the country’s watchdogs are finally starting to bark. For as long as I can remember, legislators concerned over the well-being of U.S. citizens have focused on the makers of equipment as their primary, if not their only, concern. They worried whether equipment was safe and did what it was supposed to do, and for good reason. But, oddly, the hand-wringing in Congress and, consequently, at the FDA typically ended once those products left the loading docks.

From the White House to the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. government is encouraging the adoption of medical information technology. The primary goal is to reduce errors, and one way to accomplish that might be to give patients responsibility for their medical records. A radiologist in Graz, Austria, has done exactly that, with surprising results.

Stealthy magnetophages and bacterial contrast agents were among the brain candies enjoyed last week by a community starved for something new. These treats were rich in potential, creamy smooth in creativity, and a welcome change from the meat and potatoes diet that has been fed to the MR community for the past 20 years.

It’s funny how words lend themselves to different meanings. Change the spelling and the word “aisle” becomes its homonym, “I’ll.” Change a letter or two and being unseemly (fat) becomes appealing (phat).

When Dr. Peter Kullnig offered patients at his imaging center in Graz, Austria access to their images, his intent was to protect their privacy. With private logins to the center’s Web-based PACS, patients controlled access to their records. They could open those records to their own physicians and doctors to whom they were referred.

Studies so time-intensive that they have thus far been impractical may soon enter the mainstream as a result of enhancements to GE Healthcare’s Excite data pipeline.

Two months after its acquisition of information technology specialist GWI, Agfa Healthcare was promoting its consolidation at the ECR as a decisive step in its transformation into a global healthcare IT company.