NEW ORLEANS - Philips Medical Systems is launching a range of new products at this week's American College of Cardiology meeting, including a new cardiac MRI scanner based on the Achieva platform introduced at last year's RSNA meeting.
Intera Achieva CV is the Andover, MA, company's flagship offering in the cardiac MRI segment, and is available in 3-tesla and 1.5-tesla configurations. All the Achieva models employ a 32-channel data acquisition architecture, called FreeWave, that is based on the company's SENSE parallel imaging technology.
Among other features, Philips is touting the design of the scanner's patient table, which incorporates PhysioTrak, an integrated patient monitor for continuous hemodynamic monitoring during cardiac studies. On the image processing side, Philips is shipping Achieva CV with a new coronary artery imaging package, EasyCoronaries, that enables 2-D and 3-D imaging of the entire heart without a contrast agent. The company is displaying a volume-rendering algorithm for the package as a work-in-progress.
For its Integris Allura cardiac cath systems, Philips is highlighting StentBoost, a new stent-visualization feature available on the Allura's 3D-RA workstation. StentBoost employs an image processing algorithm that removes noise in the image around the stent. The clearer image can help clinicians confirm stent placement by determining if a stent is well dilated, the company believes. Philips is also demonstrating flat-panel cardiovascular systems that were launched at previous meetings, such as Allura Xper FD20.
Philips' CT group is announcing the arrival of a cardiac version of Brilliance Workspace, a workstation concept introduced at the 2003 RSNA meeting that integrates functions found on the scanner console and an image processing workstation. Philips CT executives are talking up several clinical studies the company is sponsoring, one to demonstrate CT's ability to do coronary angiography with sensitivity and specificity greater than 85% in coronary segments greater than 2 mm in diameter, and another to examine advanced brain perfusion applications.
In ultrasound, Philips is demonstrating its Live xPlane echocardiography application for the Sonos 7500 scanner with the Performance 2005 upgrade. The technique enables the visualization of two transthoracic biplane views of the heart simultaneously, which should enable clinicians to cut in half the amount of time spent on echo exams, the company said.
JETStream Workspace for Cardiology is a new nuclear cardiology image processing module that incorporates all the imaging elements of a nuclear cardiology laboratory onto one workstation platform that can be accessed throughout a department, according to the company. In digital image management, Philips has made enhancements to its Xcelera cardiac image and information management system that enable it to support all modalities used in cardiac imaging.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
March 8, 2004
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