Elscint Unveils Pentium-powered Workstation for Nuclear Medicine

XPert Lays Base for Computer-aided Diagnosis

Elscint will introduce a Pentium-powered nuclear medicine workstationat this month's Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Orlando,FL. The workstation, called XPert, will be the platform for computer-aideddiagnosis software that Elscint is developing.

XPert will complement Elscint's existing Apex SPX line of nuclearmedicine workstations, according to Robert Sohval, executive vicepresident and general manager. XPert is network-compatible viaEthernet and TCP/IP. It can be used as a stand-alone processingworkstation or be configured with any of Elscint's gamma cameras.

"You could add an XPert on the network and do a lot ofyour processing on it and leave the other stations available foracquisition and more mundane types of processing," Sohvalsaid.

The workstation uses a Pentium 60-MHz microprocessor with anOS/2 operating system. Because of its open architecture, XPertis compatible with commercially available PC software for patientmanagement, databases and other office functions.

The XPert was designed for speed, Sohval said. It can reconstructover 30 SPECT slices per second in a 1280 x 1024 display matrix.Elscint has grander plans for the workstation than just conventionalimage processing, however. It has been designed to support computer-aideddiagnosis (CAD) software that the Israeli vendor plans to introducein the future.

Elscint's CAD program will perform image analysis and processingfunctions that will assist clinicians in the diagnosis of pathology.The company also plans to develop an artificial intelligence capabilityfor the program, in which the system uses the experience of pastcases to tailor its interpretation of images under review.

"When enough information is entered into the system, thesystem could assist in the interpretation of the image and suggestpotential diagnoses based on prior clinical experience,"Sohval said.

Elscint believes the CAD function will be used initially forcardiac imaging and then expanded to other applications.

An early building block of CAD that is available on XPert isautomatic SPECT reconstruction, in which the workstation automaticallydefines the boundaries of an area of interest for reconstruction.This saves the operator the time-consuming task of defining thearea of interest frame by frame. XPert can also be operated withmanual SPECT reconstruction.

XPert is available at a list price of $120,000, according toSohval.

MMI and Mediq finalize merger dealThird-party equipment servicefirms MMI Medical and Mediq have finalized negotiations to mergeMediq's equipment and maintenance subsidiary (MEMS) into MMI Medical.The combination of MEMS and MMI's R Squared Scan Systems subsidiarywill give MMI Medical a dominant position in the independent serviceorganization industry. MEMS was R Squared's primary competitorbefore the merger.

Under the terms of the deal, MEMS and R Squared will becomea subsidiary company controlled by MMI Medical. Mediq will receivetwo million shares of unregistered MMI common stock plus warrantsto purchase an additional 325,000 shares at a price of $6.25 ashare. The shares will probably be distributed to Mediq's shareholders,according to the companies.

MMI anticipates paying its shareholders a special one-timedividend of 15¢ a share prior to the consummation of themerger. MMI will recognize the costs of the transaction in itsfinancial statement for the fourth quarter (end-April). MMI expectsthat expenses related to the transaction will cause a loss forthe quarter.

The deal will be completed pending approval by the U.S. Securitiesand Exchange Commission, which is expected to occur by July 31,according to Alan Margulis, MMI Medical president.