Perhaps never before in all of the previous annual meetings of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) has connectivity and the need to share information drawn so much attention from so many vendors.
Daily demonstrations of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) project certainly helped to fuel interest in workflow efficiency and innovative ways to enhance productivity at all levels of the healthcare enterprise.
Siemens Medical Systems Inc. (Iselin, N.J.) launched syngo, a multi-modality platform and operating system that provides each modality with a common database. syngo works in conjunction with workstations, PACS (picture archiving and communications systems), CT, MRI and nuclear medicine equipment, essentially tying them together to exchange information in a common format.
“From any of our workstations in the different modalities, we can take any patient data from the modalities as much as it were our own,” said Randy Whitehead, Siemens’ vice president of nuclear medicine sales and marketing. “The biggest problem for any of the modalities historically has been connectivity and having common data.”
Toshiba America Medical Systems (TAMS of Tustin, Calif.) introduced simPACS to provide healthcare facilities with an affordable and easy-to-implement filmless solution. simPACS can be integrated with a variety of modalities, including CT, MRI and nuclear medicine, X-ray, vascular and ultrasound. As a DICOM- and HL7-compliant system, imaging equipment from various manufacturers can be integrated into a simPACS network.
The mini-PACS product features a Windows NT-based technology platform for the review station and archive. The review station’s interface can hasten the diagnostic process by making images immediately available. This interface also can be configured to automatically set up the radiologist’s worklist of exams to be read in a manner custom-tailored to the radiologist’s preferences.
To most effectively manage images, Konica Medical Imaging (Wayne, N.J.) highlighted its NetStar PACS product line, a new direct digitizer, as well as its entry into the dry laser printer market. Konica is billing NetStar as a phased approach to PACS, geared for community-based hospitals under 250 beds, as well as imaging centers and independent delivery networks. Konica has added new functions to NetStar, including Web-based technology, HIS/RIS interfacing and data-networking services. NetStar currently is installed at 36 sites.
Konica’s new digitizer, the Regius Model 150 Direct digitizer, automates CR image processing and distribution. The DICOM-compliant device offers the advantages of dispersed CR imaging and a touch screen user interface. The system is targeted for emergency rooms, critical care, trauma centers and main radiology departments. Five plates can be inserted into the digitizer’s vertical bays and scanned without contact or distortion. The system comes with a two-year warrantee.
The new Konica Drypro 722 offers film output of 150 films per hour. The system, which offers 12-bit density resolution and an 8K-by-10K imaging matrix, utilizes an infrared laser exposure and photothermographic technology for printing sharp images with excellent archival quality.
SmartLight Inc. (Hackensack, N.J.) arrived at RSNA riding the momentum of the recent FDA missive that the company’s Digital Film Viewer (DFV) substantially improves the ability to detect and discern subtle radiographic objects and clinical details compared to conventional light boxes.
On the product side, SmartLight introduced its new entry-level SL8000 SLX Smart Motorized Viewer. The system can be configured with Archive Wizard technology, which is designed to provide an efficient computerized film archive manager for study-by-study film viewing and referral.
SmartLight also has added Forum to its list of feature options. Forum is a video camera that can move to any location on the viewing surface and magnify that region 50 times its actual size. Forum also offers automatic focus and exposure control and can capture an image digitally for storage on a PACS or in a patient’s record.
Image enabling was the catch phrase at the Data General (Westboro, Mass.) booth, where the company spoke of its new PACS strategy, using its first installation at Princeton (West Virginia) Community Hospital as its inaugural test case.
Image enabling involves using push technology to place medical images where they need to be on an HIS. Data General has embedded image capabilities into the Meditech HIS system at Princeton to create a tighter integration between PACS and HIS. Rather than interface one with the other, this approach is designed to connect the two systems together more closely.
Fuji Medical Systems USA Inc. (Stamford, Conn.) is set to release version 1.3.0 of its Synapse PACS line this month. It features “stack-in-place” capabilities, which allow images to be tiled on a screen so a user can shuffle through the stack easily. The new version also draws scout lines on selected reference images so the physician can select the appropriate reference areas no matter what the view on screen.
Fuji also announced 510(k) clearance on its wavelet lossy compression algorithm, the AON (access over networks). AON will be marketed with the Synapse PACS and will be released at the end of the first quarter.
Seiko Instruments USA Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) introduced two new products at RSNA, including a dry, clear-base film. At 8 1/2 inches-by-11 inches, the film is FDA-cleared and is used primarily in X-ray and R/F exams.
The clear-base film joins Seiko’s blue-base film, color and monochrome transparencies, and color and monochrome paper as hard-copy output choices for the company’s 1720 Medical Imager printer series.
Seiko also demonstrated its Medical Imager Jr., a label printer designed specifically for use in radiology, HIS/RIS and medical laboratories. The unit handles one- or two-inch labels, printing them within three seconds from virtually any PC or Mac computer. The on-demand labels can carry information for radiology file folders, HIS/RIS patient identification and medical laboratory specimens.
The Medical Imager Jr. should be available in March.
Dicomit Information Technologies Corp.’s (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada) new DICOM Information Manager is replacing the company’s Dicom Image Manager. DICOM Information Manager allows a modality to meet VA specifications to send and receive text and information under DICOM, as well as images.
Dicomit also introduced its Universal 3D Review at RSNA. Universal 3D Review reconstructs an ultrasound 3D volume from a cine film sent as a DICOM multi-frame object from any ultrasound system. It also offers volume rendering and many high-speed 3D manipulation features not normally available on a PC platform.
Left:Agfa’s Compact EOS
Cedara Software Inc. (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), formerly I.S.G. Technologies, focused on Web-enabled PACS products. Cedara displayed its new VR SoftView softcopy viewing and reading software for radiologists, as well as the VR HardStore. VR HardStore is a pre-configured PACS storage system, which combines with VR SoftView in a PACS. VR HardStore can operate as a stand-alone archive or integrate with an HIS/RIS for image storage and management. 
