Imaging

Heart failure is associated with increased myocardial sympathetic nerve activity, which in turn depletes local capacity for norepinephrine uptake and storage. AdreView measures that capacity, so provides an indication of heart disease status.

VentriPoint Diagnostics has clever dot-based software that can quickly attain right ventricle dimensional data for comparison with a library of heart conditions, thereby assessing patient status. It’s system is already CE marked and is looking close to FDA clearance following the agency’s nod that everything looks in order.

Royal Philips Electronics has announced FDA 510(k) clearance for its MicroDose SI system, the first full-field digital mammography (FFDM) system on the market with the capability to enable future Single-Shot Spectral Imaging applications.

Medtronic has gained FDA approval and will commence U.S. launch of its Advisa DR MRI™ SureScan® pacing system. The system is Medtronic’s second-generation MR-Conditional pacemaker and is the first to combine the most advanced pacing technology with proven MRI access.

Digirad’s highly ergonomic ergo Imaging System has seen its utility extended to more applications with a new FDA 510(k) clearance. ergo can now be used in nuclear medicine, surgery and women’s health.

Medtronic is trumpeting the European introduction of the first and only implantable neurostimulation systems indicated for use in the treatment of chronic back and/or leg pain that are designed for full-body MRI scans under specific conditions.

Augmenix, Inc. has received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its TraceIT Tissue Marker, an absorbable tissue marker visible under CT, MR, cone beam and ultrasound imaging modalities.

Diagnostic device company Welch Allyn, has received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its iExaminer™ iPhone compatible image capture system that allows healthcare providers to capture, store, send and retrieve images from the Welch Allyn PanOptic™ Ophthalmoscope using the iPhone® 4 or 4S.

Manchester University researchers have developed a camera that can be used to take 3D colour X-ray images, in near real time, without the need for a synchrotron X-ray source. Imagine the medical possibilities.

Olive Medical Corporation of Salt Lake City, has announced FDA 510K clearance and the worldwide sales launch for the OVS1 All-in-one HD Visualisation system.

Paris-based ultrasound therapy specialist, Theraclion, has gained CE mark approval for its non-invasive treatment of breast fibroadenomas, a first in this indication. The company expects this treatment to benefit thousands of women.

Nexstim’s Navigated Brain Therapy (NBT) System has gained CE mark clearance, becoming the first non-invasive, non-systemic therapeutic device CE-marked to offer patients a personalised treatment for major depression and stroke rehabilitation.

Very clever inbuilt technology means GE Healthcare’s “FlightPlan For Liver” can help physicians identify which vessels to embolize when isolating liver tumors. The newly approved product is being showcased at Radiology Society Of North America meeting this week.

More from RSNA 2012 as Philips showcases its radiation dose exposure control, while providing high image quality for clinicians.

Riverain’s newly CE marked software claims to improves the visual clarity of conventional chest X-ray images and increases radiologists’ efficiency by reducing the time it takes to accurately confirm the proper placement of lifesaving feeding, drug-delivery and pain management tubes and lines.

It’s the Radiology Society of North America (RSNA 2012) meeting this week, at which radiologists and cardiologists interested in advanced visualization and analysis will find Fujifilm’s Synapse 3D. Fully integrated with Synapse PACS and Cardiovascular, Synapse 3D will be one of the company’s showcase technologies.