Don?t miss these new and upgraded imaging products on display at RSNA 2009.

What’s on your radiology wish list? Whether you’re considering making the leap to DR or looking for the perfect workflow solution for your practice, you’ll find what you need and more at the 95th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the Radiological Society of North America.

From November 29 to December 4, more than 700 manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors will be exhibiting the latest and greatest in today’s imaging technology at McCormick Place in Chicago. Here is just a small sampling of what you’ll find on the show floor:

Siemens Healthcare?s Artis zeego? multi-axis system. Philips? comprehensive Digital Radiography and Fluoroscopy (DRF).

CARDIOLOGY / ANGIOGRAPHY

McKesson: Horizon Cardiology™ 12.1 is a cardiovascular information solution that offers fully integrated hemodynamic monitoring and ECG management. A new revenue-management function captures charges at the point of care and enables simultaneous review of charges and reports to improve auditing and tracking.

Siemens Healthcare: The Artis zeegoR multi-axis system with robotic-assisted positioning capability is designed for interventions in both radiology and the operating room. The system’s flexible movement supports large-volume syngo DynaCT, increases operator comfort, and helps maximize space.

NovaRad?s Breast Imaging Viewer. Viztek?s Smart Card Reader.

CR / DR

Agfa: The DX-D 500n and DX-D 300 DR systems (works in progress) are designed for the entire spectrum of general radiology exams. These imaging tools offer needle quality in both CR and DR detectors, and the solutions deliver almost real-time previews and fast cycle times.

Fujifilm: The FDR AcSelerate (which requires FDA approval) is a fully automated table and upright system featuring a lightweight, ergonomic design. The flat-panel DR system uses amorphous selenium direct image capture technology to ensure quality imaging.

Philips: Philips will showcase its comprehensive Digital Radiography and Fluoroscopy (DRF) room solution with two digital detectors: one in the vertical stand and one in the table of the EasyDiagnost Eleva R/F system. The company will show the solution with the updated Eleva user interface for full digital integration of CR and DR.

Fujifilm Medical Systems? Aspire HD?a DR-based full-field digital mammography system.

Since introducing its first digital mammography system in 1983, Fujifilm Medical Systems has had a long history in the women?s imaging niche. The company?s newest offering in this category, the Aspire HD?a DR-based full-field digital mammography system?will make its US debut at RSNA 2009.

?We feel the DR system is a good complement to our existing CR system, particularly in the arena where the gantries may be 20 plus years older, and there?s an opportunity to convert to a DR flat-panel,? said Jeanine Rader, director and general manager of the Women?s Health Strategic Business Unit at Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Stamford, Conn. ?It also gives us the leverage in the marketplace, as the only vendor to offer both DR and CR.?

Last year at RSNA, Fujifilm introduced the flat-panel detector technology that has now been incorporated into the Aspire HD. The amorphous selenium detector features a 50-micron pixel size, and the DR system also uses Direct Optical Switching, which eliminates the need for the thin-film transistors used in most units in this category.

The result is very high spatial resolution with low noise, as well as a significantly lower dose. The bucky design also takes patient comfort into consideration while maximizing access to the chest wall.

Fujifilm will build on the Aspire HD with other technologies, such as a 3D image display for breast imaging.

?Our 3D image display, which we are calling 3-dimensional full-field digital mammography, will be a means of displaying the entire breast in a single 3-D rendering,? Rader said. ?This will allow the radiologist to look beyond and behind various breast structures that can obscure or overlap those very small cancers.?

The Aspire HD includes Fujifilm?s new AWS-d color workstation for technologists. Available in Europe and Asia, the Aspire HD and the AWS-d both require FDA approval and are not yet for sale in the United States. Even so, Rader notes that the company is excited to showcase these products at RSNA.

?We hope to continue to demonstrate our dedication and commitment to women?s health,? Rader said. ?We are dedicated to giving the radiologist the absolute best image resolution and image quality to find the smallest cancers at the earliest possible time.?

?A. Carlson

PACS / RIS

Amicas: AMICAS RIS Version 5.5 introduces sophisticated workflow tools to help providers manage preauthorization requirements, insurance eligibility, and patient status management. The ambulatory RIS solution also offers robust scheduling, charge capture, and workflow capabilities.

Carestream: A new vendor-neutral archive offers a consolidated data storage and management solution for any data type. This platform is designed to help health care providers bring disparate PACS and data systems into a shared, long-term data management solution.

NovaRad Corp: The new NovaPro is a specialized RIS/PACS for radiologist groups that simplifies DICOM image retrieval, management, and report distribution. NovaPro facilitates the receipt of DICOM images from unlimited, unaffiliated practices and ensures that the images and information remain separate.

Viztek: Opal-RAD Web-based PACS solutions now offer a display management feature that automatically learns a user?s preferences and presents exams accordingly. A patient identifier feature helps eliminate duplicate patient ID numbers, while a smart card reader gives users easy access to their accounts.

MAMMOGRAPHY VIEWERS FOR PACS

Intelerad Medical Systems: IntelePACS? new integrated mammography viewer is designed to eliminate the costs of a dedicated mammography workstation. The viewer features user-specific viewing sequences and other tools that allow users to read from a single, multimodality viewer.

McKesson: The Horizon Medical Imaging? 11.6 RIS/PACS solution features an advanced mammography package with sector zooming, historical matching, optimized zoom viewing, DICOM CAD SR, and an auto-dim feature.

NovaRad Corp: The NovaMG breast imaging viewer combines the tool set of NovaPACS with customizable mammographic reading and hanging protocol sequences. The viewer supports multimodality viewing and iCad and R2 structured reports.

MRI AND MR-RELATED PRODUCTS

Resonance Imaging: The CinemaVision MRI entertainment system is designed to put patients at ease during a lengthy exam. Featuring a new reflective delivery method, the system combines an adjustable high-resolution panel mounted directly inside the MRI bore and a mirrored headset for delivering all-digital entertainment to the patient.

Siemens Healthcare: The company that brought providers the MAGNETOM Espree (1.5T) and the MAGNETOM Verio, which combines 3T, 70 cm Open Bore and Tim (Total imaging matrix) technology, has something new planned for this RSNA. As stated in a press announcement, health care is increasingly faced with less?less staff, less reimbursement, less time. It is Siemens? goal ?to significantly improve productivity, across the entire MRI workflow, in the most powerful and beneficial way possible. Now anyone, regardless of experience level or complexity of patient need, will be able to realize the total power of MRI. And throughput will be accelerated like never before.? At press time, the company would not reveal further details. To learn more about the latest in MRI from Siemens, visit their booth.

Toshiba: The Titan? 3T MR system (work in progress) includes patient-friendly features such as a 71-cm aperture and Pianissimo? sound-reduction technology. Thanks to the Atlas integrated coil design, patients do not need to be continually repositioned during multiple exams.

Siemens Healthcare?s Biograph mCT.

NUCLEAR MEDICINE

Siemens Healthcare: The world?s first molecular CT, the Biograph mCT is designed to serve both the nuclear medicine department and the radiology department with one system. The Biograph mCT integrates PET and CT technologies, offering high-definition PET, time-of-flight technology, and CT configurations up to 128 slices.

OTHER PRODUCTS

Canon USA: Medical educators can take advantage of two new high-resolution multimedia projectors. The REALiS WUX10 Mark II D and REALiS SX80 Mark II D projectors feature a DICOM Simulation mode for compliance with the DICOM Part 14 standardized display function for display of grayscale images.

Sony: Optimized for ultrasound applications, the UPD25MD digital color dye sublimation printer delivers 423-dpi resolution prints in less than 20 seconds. An optional laminated media model provides long-lasting picture quality.

SPEECH RECOGNITION

Nuance: The PowerScribe? 5.0 speech-recognition tool provides an updated speech engine, architecture enhancements, improved user interface, and system enhancements to give radiologists more control over their reporting workflow.

SOFTWARE

AccelaRAD: SeeMyRadiology.com provides universal access to medical images across the entire health care continuum through a single Web portal for hospitals, radiologists, physicians, and patients. For radiologists, universal worklists combine exams from multiple locations, and the application can automate sophisticated offsite reading workflow.

Amicas: AMICAS RadStream is designed to reduce medical-legal risk by automating and documenting critical results communications. RadStream also automates the prioritization of imaging exams to help increase radiologist productivity.

DeJarnette: For image routing, the PACSware? Intelligent Router provides basic ?store and forward? routing capabilities as well as the ability to route images based on a third-party modality worklist. Intelligent Router can also route images based on a query of a third-party DICOM image storage appliance.

Merge Healthcare: A work in progress, eFilm for iPhone is designed for radiologists on the go. Created for use on the Apple iPhone? or iPod? touch, this application will allow radiologists to interface directly with their desktop eFilm Workstation? to view study lists and images from anywhere in the world.

ULTRASOUND

Philips: The CX50 CompactXtreme portable ultrasound unit is designed to offer image quality comparable to a premium lab-based ultrasound machine. The unit incorporates technologies that are also used in the Philips iU22 system, such as SonoCT imaging, XRES technology, and PureWave transducers.

Toshiba: The new ViamoTM laptop ultrasound system (work in progress) is designed to offer advanced radiology capabilities that are not available on hand-carried systems. The Viamo is suited for a range of patient exams, including traditional radiology, emergency, OB/GYN, vascular, and bariatric.


Ann H. Carlson is a contributing writer for Axis Imaging News.

dyseCT Automates Image Sorting for MDCT

It?s no secret that today?s multi-detector CT (MDCT) studies provide more information to radiologists more rapidly than ever before. But sorting through the sheer volume of these files?sometimes thousands of images per study?can cause a workflow problem for radiologists, technologists, and billing personnel.

That?s where dyseCT comes in. This unique software application from DeJarnette Research Systems, Towson, Md, automatically sorts the image files of a large study into its constituent procedures. After a full-body CT, for example, the algorithm separates images of the head from images of the abdomen and files them into separate folders for the facility?s RIS/PACS system.

DeJarnette?s dyseCT filing system makes it easy for technologists to send radiologists only relevant patient files.

?It is the only product like this in the market,? said Wayne DeJarnette, president and CEO of DeJarnette Research Systems.

dyseCT?s filing system makes it easy for technologists to send only relevant files?rather than all of the images taken for a study?to radiology specialists. dyseCT also integrates with the facility?s RIS/PACS so that files are easier to find, orders don?t get lost in the shuffle, and no billable procedures fall through the cracks.

For patients with normal pathologies, the algorithm has a very high rate of accuracy. Of course, no automated sorting algorithm can be perfect. For example, artifacts from artificial sources, such as pacemakers, can be problematic in some cases.

?The way we?ve addressed that problem is by coupling the automated algorithm with verification viewing on the back end,? DeJarnette said.

This Web-based quality control user interface application gives technologists the option to review the files manually to ensure that the images have been correctly sorted. This feature, which will be showcased at RSNA 2009 as part of version 4 of the software, is particularly helpful when working with technically challenging patients.

Generally, dyseCT?s sorting algorithm gets it right the first time, which translates to a significant time savings for radiology staff.

?We believe it really solves a significant problem,? DeJarnette said. ?Today, most of the ways that institutions are solving this problem are more human-intensive than our solution. It saves a tremendous amount of work.?

?A. Carlson