Editorial
Mobile Imaging Informatics: Transforming Workflow
Many healthcare facilities are committing a not inconsiderable amount of human, technical and financial resources, to the installation and implementation of mobile imaging informatics, providing remote access to exam reports, patient files and images that can be used to speed up reporting, queries and second opinions on diagnoses, as well as to improve access to research and teaching files. Due to t...
Association News
Highlights of MIR 2006 Congress
Management Issues Crucial to Radiology Author Prof. Iain McCall:Opening Address More and more, radiologists are realising through gatherings like the recent ‘Management in Radiology’ congress (Budapest, Hungary, October 5 – 7 2006), that they risk the erosion of their profession as an entity if they fail to recognise the importance of good management practices to improve healthcare delivery. As...
IHE Expansion Continues with New Domains Arising
There are four new integration profiles in trial implementation in the radiology domain in 2006: 1. Nuclear Medicine Image Integration Profile (NMI) with Cardiac Option is a change to the NM Image Profile, improving functionality for nuclear medicine cardiac image viewing. 2. Image Fusion (FUS) Integration Profile specifies communications between systems, creating and registering image sets and systems...
Highlights from EuroPACS 2006
The EuroPACS conference is one of the largest gatherings of specialists in medical imaging and digital systems for eHealth. This year’s edition, which took place in Trondheim, Norway, offered information on the latest and most significant developments in clinical practice, research and education within digital radiology. Physicians, radiologists, scientists and healthcare professionals from more than 30...
ECRI-AIMS Equipment Management System
ECRI-AIMS has announced a new system for managing all aspects of technologybased assets found in European and international healthcare institutions. It is a web-browser application, enabling data stored centrally by the hospital to be accessed via a web browser connected to the hospital intranet. There is no client software to install and ECRI-AIMS therefore can be used by personnel at all levels at any ti...
Joint Congress of CAR/ISCAS/CAD/CMI/EuroPACS
Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) have announced that the 21st International Congress and Exhibition will be held in Berlin, Germany, on the 27 – 30 June 2007. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is January 10, 2007. Topics will include the following: • Medical Imaging • Computer Assisted Cardiovascular Imaging • Image Processing and Display • Medical Workstati...
EU News
Committee of the Regions
Key Role of the CORAuthorIlzeRaath Editor European Affairs [email protected] The Committee of the Regions (COR) was created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and provides a forum for local and regional authorities on issues affecting them. It is an advisory body that ensures public authorities are consulted on EU proposals of direct interest to them, especially as they are often responsible for...
Industry News
Philips Hybrid Scanner Improves Cancer Treatment
A new-generation, highly advanced combination PET/CT scanning device improves diagnosis and treatment of cancers, while being more comfortable for patients than older equipment, research has shown. The device merges two non-invasive imaging technologies in one ‘open’ machine. While both PET and CT scans are routinely used in evaluating cancer, the fusion of the two types of scans offers advantage...
Agfa Debut New Solution in Europe
At the World Congress of Cardiology in Barcelona, Agfa HealthCare made the European debut of the Heartlab Congenital reporting and analysis tool for congenital echocardiography reporting. Heart defects are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Advances in diagnosis and surgical treatment have le...
Konica Work With Alliance Medical
Alliance Medical, a European provider of managed imaging services, has become the first company in the UK to install Konica Minolta’s Drypro 793 Laser Imager. Launched recently, this system is integrated into Alliance Medical’s existing PACS system. The Drypro laser imager has a minimal pixel size of 25 um. It is also equipped with a web maintenance function that allows the user a PC on the same...
Sectra Receive Microsoft .NET award
Sectra was announced the winner in the category “ISV/Packaged Software Solutions” at Microsoft’s fifth Microsoft .NET Awards. The competition acknowledges and rewards Microsoft partners that have developed the most innovative IT solutions based on the .NET platform. The jury’s motivation was: “Sectra has developed a high-performance system for workstations and servers using streaming technology t...
Update to Matrox Imaging Library Announced
Matrox Imaging is announcing a new module for its Matrox Imaging Library (MIL). “Adding a metrology tool was the next logical step for MIL”, explains Pierantonio Boriero, Product Line Manager, Matrox Imaging. As part of Processing Pack 3, the latest update to the current MIL 8.0 release, the Metrology module tool measures and constructs geometric features. Users may measure finite features such a...
GE Healthcare Complete Acquisition of Biacore
GE Healthcare announced that pursuant to its public offer it has received acceptances equivalent to approximately 98 percent of the total number of shares outstanding in Biacore. All of the conditions to the offer have been fulfilled and GE Healthcare is proceeding with the closing of the offer....
Hologic Inaugurate New European Headquarters
Hologic have inaugurated their new European Headquarters, Service and Parts Depot, and Training Centre in Brussels. The new facility doubles the size of the Hologic European headquarters. This is the second major investment for Hologic in Europe in the past six months. In May, Hologic announced the 21 million EUR acquisition of AEG Elektrofotografie, a privately-held company headquartered in Warstein, Ger...
Siemens Helps Streamline Clinical Trial Process
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and Siemens Medical Solutions have developed a method of electronically transferring clinical data gathered at the point of care for use in prospective clinical trials. Through this process, clinical trial research results can be documented more efficiently. This solution offers a scalable, automatic transfer of data between an electronic medical record (EM...
Letters to the Editor
EU Directive and MRI Scanning:The Position in the UK
In follow-up to your news piece from Prof. David Norris (Volume 6, Issue 3), this is the position in the UK at present. In 2004, following an extensive review of the science and after carrying out a wide consultation, the NRPB (now the Radiation Protection Division of the Health Protection Agency, HPA) recommended adoption in the UK of the 1998 guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Rad...
Cover Story:Mobile Informatics in Radiology
Mobile Image Delivery and Acquisition
New Ways to Manage and Access Information Author Dr Jarmo Reponen Chief Radiologist Dept. of Radiology Raahe Hospital Raahe, Finland [email protected] The development of wireless networks and terminals has made mobile connections to image archive and communication systems (PACS) a reality. This access is now possible outside the fixed hospital network and even outside the physical hos...
The Digital North Denmark Project
Our Experience Integrating Mobile Technology Author DR HENRIK GREGERSEN Chairman Musculoskeletal Radiology Section Department of Radiology Aalborg Hospital Aalborg, Denmark [email protected] The healthcare environment is constantly changing. From paper reports and films, which facilitated patient contact, professionals then embraced digital data processing systems, for the most part not...
Enabling Access to Patient Data
Ensuring True Mobility in Imaging Author Liz Beckmann Managing Director Lanmark Medical Beaconsfeild, UK [email protected] Mobile imaging is not new; for over ten years, it has been used in several areas, including the transmission of trauma CT scans for on-call reporting by radiologists at home or for emergency referral to a tertiary centre. It has also been used to enable...
Mobile Life in the Radiology Department
Our Experiences with Mobile Technology Author Prof. Nevra Elm Professor of Radiology Department of Radiology Ege University Medical Faculty Izmir, Turkey [email protected] Workflow dynamics within modern radiology departments have transformed with the growinginfluence of information technology, of which the most significant additions have clearly beenDICOM image data systems, PACS,...
Wireless Access to Patient Records in a Clinical Environment
Overview of Emerging Trends Authors Dr David Bandon Digital Imaging Unit Head Prof. Osman Ratib Head of Nuclear Medicine Dr Antoine Rosset Radiologict Department of Radiology And Medical Informatics University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) Geneva, Switzerland [email protected] While mobile access to medical data and patient is becoming more widely available, accessing imag...
Features
Beyond the Heart: Innovations in Radiology
The Evolving Ultrasound Market Author Dr Jim R. Brown Senior Director of Clinical and Technical Marketing Philips Medical Systems, Ultrasound Beyond the heart, researchers are exploring applications for 3D or “volumetric” ultrasound technology to help improve the physician’s diagnostic and treatment decisions. The following are just a few areas in which ultrasound shows real promise...
How 3D Imaging is Advancing Radiology
Practical Guidelines for a Successful 3D Imaging Service Authors Gordon J. Harris Director, 3D Imaging Service Massachusetts General Hospital Associate Professor of Radiology Harvard Medical School Boston, MA USA [email protected] Matthew A. Barish Director, 3D and Image Processing Center Brigahm and Women’s Hospital Assistant Professor of Radiology Harvard Med...
Building Trust in Remote Reporting
Ensuring a Viable Service Authors Dr Hanna Pohgnen Rosalieco Oy Espoo, Finland [email protected] Prof. Hans Blickman Chairman Dept. of Radiology Umc St. Radboud NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands [email protected] Today, the possibilities offered by the digital workplace, such as remote reporting and off-hour coverage mean that virtual radiologists can offer imaging services...
ECRI Healthcare Product Comparison Chart
Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS)
Contact ECRI Europe Weltech Centre Ridgeway, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 2AA, United Kingdom [email protected] WWW.ECRI.ORG.UK ECRI is a totally independent non profit research agency designated as a Collaborating Centre of the World Health Organization (WHO). Such organisations are appointed to contribute to WHO’s public health mission by providing specialised knowledge, expertise, and...
Country Focus:Germany
The Medical Imaging Industry in Germany
Largest Single Imaging Market in Europe Author Dr Hans-Peter Bursig Managing Director ZVEI Divison Medical Engineering Frankfurt Am Main, Germany [email protected] Germany is probably unique in that it maintains two separate systems for providing medical imaging services. Although radiologists and other medical specialists using medical imaging technologies operate both in hospitals as well...
German Radiological Society
Profile of the Deutsche Roentgengesellschaft (DRG) Author Prof. Maximilien Reiser President German Society of Radiology(DRG) Berlin, Germany [email protected] On May 2, 2005, the Deutsche Roentgengesellschaft (DRG) celebrated its 100th anniversary. Founded in 1905 in Berlin, its illustrious list of founding members includes Conrad Wilhelm Roentgen. Today, the society has grown to include nearl...
IT and Workflow Organisation
Information Technology in a University Radiology Department Author Dr Peter Mildenberger Senior Radiologist Department of Radiology Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital Mainz, Germany [email protected] The Johannes Gutenberg University Hospital is a fairly typical example of university hospitals in Germany. It has about 1,500 beds, serving 55,000 inpatients per ann...
Education and Training for Radiology
The Experience in Germany Author Prof. Dr Berthold B. Wein Associate Professor of the Department of Radiology Medical Centre of the Technical University of Aachen and Private Practice Radiologist, Gemeinschaftspraxis Im Kaupzinerkarree, Aachen To become a radiologist in Germany, several important educational steps must be taken during and after completion of the study of medicine....
My Opinion
Interview with Prof.Eric Poiseau
Interviewee Prof. Eric Poiseau IT Manager Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Europe University of Rennes Rennes, France What is IHE Europe and What are its Aims? _ IHE is a non-profit organisation sponsored by professional bodies and healthcare suppliers that gathers users and vendors to address the problems of healthcare systems’ interoperability. We believe that interoperabili...