- Cedara to showcase additional image fusion capabilities (works-in-
progress) for its Cedara PET/CT(TM) application
- Diagnostic procedures to be enhanced by further anatomical and
physiological comparisons now possible through MRI, PET, CT, SPECT image
fusion
- Web enabled functionality to allow image fusion from any location at any
time
TORONTO, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Cedara Software, a Merge Healthcare
company (Nasdaq: MRGE; TSX: MRG) 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.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030430/MRGELOGO )
"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.
Cedara Software is a Merge Healthcare company focused on the development of
custom engineered software applications and development tools for the medical
imaging OEM and International markets. Cedara software is deployed in
hospitals and clinics worldwide and is licensed by many of the world's leading
medical device and healthcare information technology companies. Cedara
technologies and expertise span all the major digital imaging modalities
including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), digital
X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, echo-cardiology, angiography, nuclear
medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and fluoroscopy. Cedara medical
imaging offerings are used in all aspects of clinical imaging workflow
including the capture of a patient's digital image; the archiving,
communication and manipulation of digital images; sophisticated clinical
applications to analyze digital images; and the use of imaging in minimally-
invasive surgery. For additional information, visit our website at
http://www.cedara.com.
Merge Healthcare is a market leader in the development and delivery of
medical imaging and information management software and services. With over
twenty years of leadership in the medical imaging and healthcare information
technology markets, Merge Healthcare provides innovative solutions for both
OEM and the end-user healthcare markets. We custom engineer clinical and
imaging applications and development tools that are on the forefront of
medicine and its use of medical imaging for OEM and international customers.
We develop innovative medical imaging software solutions that support end-to-
end business and clinical workflow for radiology department and specialty
practices, imaging centers and hospitals. Our innovative software solutions
use leading-edge imaging software technologies that accelerate market delivery
for our OEM customers, while our end-user solutions improve our customers'
productivity and enhance the quality of patient care they provide. For
additional information, visit our website at http://www.merge.com.
All trademarks appearing in this release are the property of Cedara
Software Corp.
SOURCE Cedara Software
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Related links:
http://www.merge.com
http://www.cedara.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030430/MRGELOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Jacques Cornet, VP of Business Development &
Strategic Marketing, Cedara Software Corp., +1-905-672-2100, ext.
2564, jacques.cornet@cedara.com; Media, Beth Frost-Johnson, Sr.
VP of Marketing, Merge Healthcare, +1-414-977-4254,
bethfj@merge.com
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