Conventional wisdom holds that the cost of full-blown digitalmedical imaging presents an insurmountable obstacle for mid-sizedprivate and community hospitals. Think again. There may be a financiallogic to investing in total picture archiving and

Laser film digitizer supplier Lumisys continued due diligencelast week as it considered a merger with Vision Ten, accordingto Stephen J. Weiss, Lumisys president and CEO. Vision Ten isa specialist in charge-coupled device (CCD) digitizing technology.The

Talks broke down this month on the proposed merger of picturearchiving and communications systems firms Image Data and Genesys(SCAN 12/30/92). James M. Karlak, Image Data executive vice presidentand COO confirmed the termination of the talks. The logic

When the U.S. Army and Air Force asked for bids on their giantmedical diagnostic imaging support (MDIS) program, Advanced VideoProducts was the only company that made it to the final competitionagainst the heavyweight partnership of Siemens and defense

Despite a buffeting by the winds of recession and cost-control,the medical equipment business sails in the right general direction.The business remains profitable for the most part, and as theU.S. population ages, it faces an upbeat future. Varian

AFP Imaging would like to be selling mammography systems rightnow, but it has no product. The Elmsford, NY, firm dropped itsmammography distribution agreement with Finnish supplier Soredexlast year in anticipation of selling systems provided by

Independent service organization R Squared Scan Systems capitalizedon the settlement of litigation with GE last year to enter thenewest frontier of third-party maintenance: MRI service. The Corona, CA-based company spent two years and $2.5

Clinical development of positron emission tomography could behampered by an ongoing shortage of oxygen-18, the raw materialfor a widely used PET tracer. The shortage is forcing PET researchersto ration isotope supplies and cut back on studies just as

Shifting alliances in intravascular ultrasound compose a dancechoreographed by companies with an eye on a market that just mightbe something--someday. Catheter firm Boston Scientific partedwith ultrasound vendor Diasonics in July to jump on the back

Siemens will reduce its worldwide medical work force by 1800 jobsin fiscal 1993 (end-September). Half the reductions in force willtake place in Germany and half elsewhere. The move reflects bothsluggishness in medical equipment sales worldwide and the

Business in the picture archiving and communications systems marketis tough all over, but the smaller PACS companies sometimes haveit the toughest. They must clear a higher hurdle when potentialcustomers show concern about their staying power in the

Esaote Biomedica of Genoa, Italy, will reestablish itself as acommercial MRI manufacturer next month with the introduction ofa small-bore 0.2-tesla permanent magnet scanner dedicated to jointimaging. The midsized imaging vendor chose to focus on niche

Gendex continued its acquisition drive with the purchase of EurekaX-ray Tube from Siemens last month. The Des Plaines, IL, manufacturerof dental and medical x-ray systems paid $10.3 million for thebusiness, with $4 million of the price financed

Niche MR may be an emerging market, but it is not a totally newfocus of corporate attention. Metriflow Medical Systems of Milwaukeeobtained Food and Drug Administration approval of its AFM-100blood flow scanner five years ago. The firm is just now

Toshiba has revamped service training and launched a remote scannerdiagnosis and service program to help boost its position in theU.S. medical imaging market. Key to Toshiba's new service regimewas the establishment last month of the Toshiba Medical

Toshiba America Medical Systems has found a way to mix marketingwith a social conscience. The Tustin, CA, vendor launched a nationalprogram last year to screen high-school athletes for heart abnormalities,using Toshiba's SSH-140A portable color Doppler

Seven years of turmoil in the picture archiving and communicationsystems market has led to greater emphasis on productivity andcost-effective equipment. But radiology departments often assumethat adding new technology in PACS will automatically

A former Siemens top medical executive with a reputation as aturnaround specialist has assumed the reins of struggling fluoroscopyimage enhancement firm Fidelity Medical. Werner J. Haas replacedFidelity's previous chief, Efraim Landa, who resigned

Cytocare squelched a class action suit in May that had been promptedby the firm's declining fortunes in the lithotripsy market anda corresponding drop in stock price. A Santa Ana, CA, federaldistrict judge granted the firm's summary motion to dismiss

Pharmaceutical company Sterling Winthrop and researchers at MassachusettsGeneral Hospital have moved their joint contrast development effortinto high gear. The cooperative venture should broaden the applicationsof medical imaging in drug research, both