-- Cedara introduces a works-in-progress suite of applications named
Cedara OncologyWorks(TM) to the radiology community
-- Software solution to provide powerful collaborative platform for
radiologists and radiation oncologists
-- Cedara OncologyWorks to include functional components for
multi-modality diagnosis, data management and therapy analysis
-- Cedara I-Response(TM), a revolutionary application for tumour analysis
at both cellular and anatomical levels to be included in suite of
advanced oncology products.
TORONTO, Nov. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 its exhibition of a works-in-progress suite of software
solutions for oncology diagnosis and treatment analysis at the annual meeting
of the Radiological Society of North America.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030430/MRGELOGO )
Oncology is one of the fastest growing areas for medical imaging in
healthcare. With a wealth of experience in developing disease centric
solutions for healthcare specialists, Cedara will introduce a new clinical
product line named Cedara OncologyWorks to the radiology community at RSNA.
Applications demonstrated will include functional components designed to
assist with therapy planning and response assessment through PET/CT fusion,
magnetic resonance (MR) based functional diffusion mapping, tracking
quantitative tumour measurements over time, patient follow-up management and
more.
Cedara OncologyWorks provides first of kind support for diagnostic and
therapeutic assessment for radiologists and radiation oncologists; for PACS
vendors, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and other solution
providers, Cedara OncologyWorks provides leading edge capability in oncology
care.
Cancer is a major public cost for healthcare in the United States as well
as in other developed countries. In 2004 alone, a total of 1,368,030 new
cancer cases and 563,700 deaths are predicted to have occurred in the United
States alone.
Among the products demonstrated at RSNA, Cedara will be highlighting
progress in the development of its multi-modality workstation Cedara
I-Response(TM). Cedara I-Response is a works-in-progress software solution
that features an exclusive technology for molecular imaging known as
Functional Diffusion Mapping(TM) (fDM(TM)) for Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI). Based on landmark work at the University of Michigan, the application
was designed for therapy response assessment. Differing from standard
techniques that use anatomical images to evaluate tumour growth, functional
diffusion mapping is an imaging technique that can visualize changes in tumour
tissue resulting from cellular mechanisms; because of this, it has the
potential to precisely monitor at an earlier point the impact of cancer
therapies and provide valuable diagnostic information. By giving radiologists,
oncologists, researchers and others a sophisticated tool to study tumour
activity at both the cellular and anatomical level, it is hoped that this
technology may provide the foundation on which fast, efficient and
personalized cancer treatment can develop.
Initial clinical work showed tremendous promise for fDM in the area of
brain cancer care, and the assessment of brain tumour response to therapy.
Researchers are now beginning to investigate new clinical domains, such as
head and neck cancer and breast cancer.
Recent journal articles highlighting the potential clinical impact of this
technology include, Moffat, Bradford A., et al., "Functional diffusion map: A
noninvasive MRI biomarker for early stratification of clinical brain tumor
response", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), April 2005
and Hamstra, Daniel A., et al., "Evaluation of the functional diffusion map as
an early biomarker of time-to-progression and overall survival in high-grade
glioma", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), November
2005.
"I-Response provides a strong platform on which radiologists and radiation
oncologists can work together in a united effort to fight cancer," said Harald
Zachmann, Oncology Market Manager at Cedara Software. "With a component based
architecture, all of the applications in OncologyWorks can be easily
integrated into existing OEM products; a number of our OEM partners have
expressed keen interest in this technology due to its broad implications to
cancer care. As we have seen in a variety of clinical specialties, our
technology's ability to assist healthcare professionals with fast, efficient
and accurate diagnostic information is unsurpassed."
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.cedara.com
http://www.merge.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 of Cedara Software Corp., +1-905-672-2100
ext. 2564, jacques.cornet@cedara.com , or Beth Frost-Johnson, Sr.
VP of Marketing of Merge Healthcare, +1-414-977-4254,
bethfj@merge.com
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