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Seeweekly news
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2005-11-23 |
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Cedara Software to Introduce New Image Fusion Capabilities at RSNA 2005 |
Cedara Software, a Merge Healthcare company and a leading independent developer of medical software technologies for the global healthcare market, today announced plans to unveil additional capabilities for its FDA cleared Cedara PET/CT application at RSNA 2005. These new work-in-progress features expand the power of Cedara PET/CT, which was debuted at RSNA last year, and these enhancements represent Cedara's commitment to continuous leading-edge development.
"Having first introduced Cedara PET/CT as a work-in-progress solution at the Radiological Society of North America Conference in November 2004, we are very excited about the response from our customers and in particular our ability to unveil these new features that were developed throughout the year." said Greg Girard, Radiology Market Manager at Cedara. "Beyond the flexible workflow design, I think that new components such as automatic registration, report integration, and current to prior case comparison will really resonate with physicians and clinicians."
Works-in-progress additions to Cedara's PET/CT workstation also include image fusion for magnetic resonance (MR), Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computed Tomography (CT), Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography (SPECT), as well as 3D rendering of fused images. By supporting fusion for a wider range of imaging devices, Cedara intends to expand comparative capability in medical imaging.
PET/CT imaging has become popular in medical imaging environments because of its ability to concurrently visualize anatomical and physiological characteristics of the human body. In oncology, for example, PET/CT imaging is used to view tumour activity in conjunction with anatomical references, allowing physicians to better understand the effects of cancer treatment. Combined PET/CT imaging is also useful in organ diagnosis, where tumour boundaries can be difficult to discern.
"The varied functional demands from Nuclear Medicine, Radiology and Oncology departments have resulted in most market solutions failing to address the specific workflow needs of any particular specialty," continued Girard. "Our workstation engenders a best-of-breed approach to medical imaging, where specialists can bring together clinical data from varied imaging devices for comparative analysis and more informed diagnostic procedures based on their preferred workflow."
As a relatively new modality, many radiology systems and PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) solutions are struggling to adapt to this technology. Because of this, many physicians who read these studies have been forced to practice directly on PET/CT consoles, which requires them to be in the same location as the PET/CT scanner. With Cedara PET/CT, the software can be integrated into any PACS workstation. This provides easy access to the PET/CT images at the same location where reading from all other modalities is done, allowing radiologists to quickly and efficiently report PET/CT studies.
"Because Cedara PET/CT workstation was developed using the Cedara OpenEyes(TM) software development platform, we can easily integrate this functionality into other PACS solutions. OpenEyes allowed us to separate the application from core functionality, which in turn means that capabilities such as image fusion can be run as a plug-in, sharing resources," said Lorelle Lapstra, Chief Architect at Cedara. "As a web enabled technology, Cedara's PET/CT functionality will also become available over the internet, providing diagnostic capability to specialists from any location, at any time."
Cedara's image fusion technology will also be available in the Cedara OncologyWorks(TM) suite of applications for therapeutic assessment.
"Today's healthcare professional requires a single workstation or platform where they can access a comprehensive toolset allowing them to read, diagnose and plan medical procedures from one workplace," stated Jacques Cornet, VP of Business Development & Marketing at Cedara. "Cedara's PET/CT technology serves as a prime example of how component based architectures can allow everything from coronary screening to surgical planning from a single desktop computer. For PACS vendors and imaging companies, this technology can expand the impact of medical imaging to all areas of the healthcare enterprise. Any OEM or University Hospital interested in next generation PET/CT imaging solutions should check out Cedara Software."
Cedara Software will be located at booth 1315 in the South Hall of McCormick Place during RSNA 2005.
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