Industry Roundup: AADCO, Fujifilm, GE, Misys, NBCF, Neurostar, PatientKeeper, Philips, Suros
AADCO Medical has developed a Sterilized Disposable Surgical Drape that can be placed within the sterile field over a patient’s body to absorb the radiation scattered from the patient. Called X-drape, the product is made from AADCO’s proprietary non-leaded composite radiation absorbing material, X-Ban. X-Drape works within the sterile field to significantly reduce dose, from scatter radiation, up to 98 percent. AADCO also recently introduced MRI-Safe, a mobile examination lamp with a floor-mounted mobile base. The device has been tested to be safe in a 3 Tesla MRI environment and mounting it on an offset mobile stand that allows the user to roll the light close over the table. It also features an adjustable design that allows users general ease of movement, rotation about the horizontal and vertical planes, and beam focus adjustments 14 cm to 22 cm, all with single-hand operation.
Fujifilm has collaborated with the National Breast Cancer Foundation to launch a national public education campaign called Images of Health: Mammograms for a Million Moms. Part of the initiative is a new educational website, www.imagesofhealth.com. The site is a comprehensive resource to inform women and their families about mammography, including a means of finding a certified mammography facility in their area.
GE Healthcare announced the commercial release of its new chemistry system, FASTlab, designed to streamline positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceutical production. The new platform is being showcased at the Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in Athens, Greece, through Oct. 4. The system features a single-use cassette system that enables PET diagnostics to become more accessible to patients. FASTlab’s performance for fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) synthesis has been tested at commercial distribution and academic sites in the United States and Europe. The cassette platform was shown to produce batches of FDG with a mean uncorrected yield of 70 percent (equivalent to 81 percent corrected yield), as reported by at team at Mayo Clinic and the University of Liege, Belgium. FASTlab’s single-use cassette contains pre-measured quantities of all chemicals needed for the synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals accounting for its high yield and high reproducibility.
Kindred Healthcare, which through its subsidiaries operates 80 long-term acute care hospitals across the United States, has selected Neurostar Solutions’ Virtual Radiology Network for teleradiology and imaging archiving for their interim teleradiology system.
London-based Misys plc, the parent company of Misys Healthcare Systems in Raleigh, N.C., has announced the halt to the period it will accept proposals for its sale. Misys plc put itself up for sale in early June of this year. The company said that it had not received any proposals it considered worth taking to shareholders at this time. The company also announced that Kevin Lomax, CEO, has stepped down and that the company’s non-executive chairman, Sir Dominic Cadbury, is assuming Lomax’s duties for now. The company will hold its annual meeting on Oct. 4, where it expects to discuss its next moves.
PatientKeeper has announced that a key component of the company’s data synchronization technology has been awarded patent number 7,099,896 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent relates generally to synchronizing information on mobile devices with data stored in multiple enterprise data sources. This technology makes possible many applications, including software that can assist physicians with clinical decisions by aggregating current and relevant information about their patients.
Philips and Texas Healthcare Network in Austin have entered into a joint agreement that will provides rural community hospitals and clinics in Texas with Philips iSite PACS.
Suros Surgical Systems, owned by Hologic, has gained near citywide adoption of its minimally invasive breast biopsy system at nearly all hospitals and breast centers in Indianapolis, Ind. The Suros ATEC Breast Biopsy and Excision System — which performs tests in less than a minute — is a breast biopsy guided by x-ray or mammography and is commonly used for MRI-guided breast biopsy. Nearly 200,000 breast biopsies have been successfully performed using the ATEC since the company introduced the device in March 2002.
Swissray International announced the installation of its direct digital Radiography (ddR) system at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.
Fujifilm has collaborated with the National Breast Cancer Foundation to launch a national public education campaign called Images of Health: Mammograms for a Million Moms. Part of the initiative is a new educational website, www.imagesofhealth.com. The site is a comprehensive resource to inform women and their families about mammography, including a means of finding a certified mammography facility in their area.
GE Healthcare announced the commercial release of its new chemistry system, FASTlab, designed to streamline positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceutical production. The new platform is being showcased at the Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in Athens, Greece, through Oct. 4. The system features a single-use cassette system that enables PET diagnostics to become more accessible to patients. FASTlab’s performance for fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) synthesis has been tested at commercial distribution and academic sites in the United States and Europe. The cassette platform was shown to produce batches of FDG with a mean uncorrected yield of 70 percent (equivalent to 81 percent corrected yield), as reported by at team at Mayo Clinic and the University of Liege, Belgium. FASTlab’s single-use cassette contains pre-measured quantities of all chemicals needed for the synthesis of radiopharmaceuticals accounting for its high yield and high reproducibility.
Kindred Healthcare, which through its subsidiaries operates 80 long-term acute care hospitals across the United States, has selected Neurostar Solutions’ Virtual Radiology Network for teleradiology and imaging archiving for their interim teleradiology system.
London-based Misys plc, the parent company of Misys Healthcare Systems in Raleigh, N.C., has announced the halt to the period it will accept proposals for its sale. Misys plc put itself up for sale in early June of this year. The company said that it had not received any proposals it considered worth taking to shareholders at this time. The company also announced that Kevin Lomax, CEO, has stepped down and that the company’s non-executive chairman, Sir Dominic Cadbury, is assuming Lomax’s duties for now. The company will hold its annual meeting on Oct. 4, where it expects to discuss its next moves.
PatientKeeper has announced that a key component of the company’s data synchronization technology has been awarded patent number 7,099,896 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent relates generally to synchronizing information on mobile devices with data stored in multiple enterprise data sources. This technology makes possible many applications, including software that can assist physicians with clinical decisions by aggregating current and relevant information about their patients.
Philips and Texas Healthcare Network in Austin have entered into a joint agreement that will provides rural community hospitals and clinics in Texas with Philips iSite PACS.
Suros Surgical Systems, owned by Hologic, has gained near citywide adoption of its minimally invasive breast biopsy system at nearly all hospitals and breast centers in Indianapolis, Ind. The Suros ATEC Breast Biopsy and Excision System — which performs tests in less than a minute — is a breast biopsy guided by x-ray or mammography and is commonly used for MRI-guided breast biopsy. Nearly 200,000 breast biopsies have been successfully performed using the ATEC since the company introduced the device in March 2002.
Swissray International announced the installation of its direct digital Radiography (ddR) system at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.