Canon Partners With Optopol To Provide Ophthalmic Diagnostic Tools In Europe.

Canon Europe has revealed more details about its partnership with Optopol, since December 2009, to provide ophthalmic diagnostic tools. By this partnership, Canon aims to acquire a top position in the ophthalmic diagnostic equipment market allover the world. The union of the two companies provides a complementary fit in products, technologies and channels.

GE Healthcare And MTL Produce First Russia's Domestically Assembled CT Scanner

GE Healthcare and its Russian manufacturing partner Meditsinskie technologii Ltd (MTL) have announced the first Russia's domestically assembled CT scanner. This accomplishment represents an important forward step in the business future for both GE Healthcare and MTL because it is expected that the annual domestic Russian CT market could exceed 1.5 billion rubles (US$49 million).

Philips Expands In Brazil By Acquiring Wheb Sistemas

Philips Healthcare has incorporated a second Brazilian clinical systems supplier, Wheb Sistemas. Earlier this year in March 2010, Tecso Informatica, Brazil leading radiology information systems (RIS) supplier, has also joined Philips Healthcare as part of the Philips' strategy to expand in different markets allover the world. Philips also took over Israeli PACS supplier CDP Medical Ltd in August. Wheb, established in 1999 and based in Blumenau, has nearly 190 staff members and implemented solutions in more than 230 hospitals. Wheb will become part of Philips Healthcare’s Patient Care and Clinical Informatics business.

TrueBeam Improves Radiotherapy Outcome.

The Stanford Cancer Center, Stanford, Calif. recently announced that it has acquired a new radiotherapy machine, TrueBeam. The system significantly improves the clinical outcome as it reduces the time needed for treatment by up to 50%. TrueBeam features a linear accelerator that decreases the required time for treatment by almost the half when compared to other conventional radiotherapy machines. The system offers highly accurate targeting of cancer cells than other radiotherapy systems. TrueBeam also features 4D imaging technology that produces images in 60% less time when compared with other systems.

InfoGard Becomes An ONC-Authorized Certification Body

InfoGard Laboratories, Inc., a major provider of healthcare IT solutions, has been chosen by The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to be an ONC-Authorized Testing and Certification Body (ONC-ATCB). The San Luis-based company is offering a new option for Electronic Health Records (EHR) providers, they can have their products evaluated and certified to confirm that they are following the standers proposed earlier this year by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Orange Mobile Telecomms Introduces Mobile Messaging Service In United Kingdom

Orange, French mobile telecomms, has introduced a mobile messaging service, Health Gateway, designed specifically to serve healthcare sector. The Health Gateway service is prepared to allow hospitals, healthcare organizations and pharmacies to use two-way messaging to provide appointment reminders, routine test results, and medication reminders to patients. In addition, it will also enable health institutions to send emergency messages to staff through their mobile systems. The web-based Health Gateway has developed in partnership with UK company, iPlato, whose platform is hosted on the NHS N3 network.

McGill And Pisa Universities Collaborate For Teleanaesthesia

McGill University in Canada and the Department of Anaesthesia of Pisa University in Italy are working collaboratively to innovate remote anaesthesia. Teleanaesthesia is considered to be one of the latest revolutionary advances of healthcare IT. A team from McGill provided remote follow up and treatment for 20 patients undergoing thyroid surgery in Italy, for more than two weeks, with the operations lasting from 45 minutes to three hours. The Montreal team was continuously observing patient care via a live stream by using four cameras. Vital signs monitoring and drug administration were controlled through an internet link.

AHRA Holds Fall Conference For Operational Excellence In Imaging

The AHRA Leadership Institute, in collaboration with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, will hold the 2010 Fall Conference, Operational Excellence in Imaging, from October 19 to 21 at the Hilton Savannah DeSoto Hotel, Savannah, Ga. AHRA Leadership Institute aims to provide its members with highly practical expertise regarding medical imaging.Two programs will be available for participants in the conference; one advanced program (Operational Excellence in the Imaging Environment) and another basic one (Basic Management Skills). After registration, Attendants should select one of these 2 programs to participate in. With an additional fee, attendants are able to take part in a pre-conference Certified Radiology Administrator (CRA) exam workshop on  October 19.

One-day Prostate Radiosurgery Training Course In Sunnyvale

A one-day course organized to provide clinicians with the relevant knowledge about the latest technique of radiosurgery for the prostate cancer treatment is slated to be hold on October 30 in Sunnyvale, California. The course is hosted by the Accuray Training Department in collaboration with Alan Katz, M.D., and Michael Santoro, M.D. This one-day training course for prostate radiosurgery is intended to enable a CyberKnife facility to begin or expand a CyberKnife program for prostate cancer treatment. The course will cover the practical sides of hypo-fractionated prostate radiosurgery, and, at the end of the day, doctors should have gained enough detailed knowledge about this type of treatment to be able to start their own program. The course will also include live demonstrations and treatment planning sessions for the attendants.

USPSTF Questions The Effectiveness Of CTC For Cancer Screening

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) was subject to a widespread criticism earlier this year due to its controversial mammography screening recommendations. Recently, the USPSTF has declared another vague recommendation but this time regarding computed tomographic colonography (CTC), also known as virtual colonoscopy. The CTC Coalition, based in Washington D.C., which is made up of physician providers, colon cancer patient advocates and imaging technology developers, is asking the USPSTF to reconsider its recent “I” statement for CTC.

MRI Detects Bigger Hippocampus Effects In Children

Using data analysis from MRI scans, researchers could find evidence that physically fit children, aged 9-10 years old, tend to have bigger hippocampus volume than their out-of-shape peers. The study was published in the journal Brain Research, and was led by Art Kramer, University of Illinois psychology professor and Beckman Institute director, together with doctoral student Laura Chaddock and kinesiology and community health professor Charles Hillman.

Syngo.via transforms medical images in one click

nce its official launch earlier this year, Siemens Healthcare’s innovative software application for multi-modality clinical image reporting has received 10 orders in the UK.  syngo®.via is a client-server application that does not restrict user access from dedicated workstations and is accessible from any network attached workstation. It has been designed to save time, money and ensure easy access to clinical images.