VIENNA - A unique new endoscopic ultrasound probe is among the highlights in the Toshiba booth at this week’s European Congress of Radiology. The new probe is designed to provide more effective ultrasound-guided biopsies, in particular of lymph nodes and pancreatic and stomach tumors.
Toshiba’s PEF-708FA endoscopic ultrasound transducer marries an endoscopic probe to a transesophageal curved-array color Doppler scanhead. The device also includes a biopsy needle for fine-needle aspiration biopsy.
The endoscope piece of the device can be used to guide the transducer down a patient’s esophagus and into position near a region of interest. The needle is then inserted into the suspicious area, with ultrasound guiding the needle path and enabling the interventionalist to make a quick biopsy without hitting healthy tissue.
Toshiba, whose European headquarters is in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, launched the probe in November, and has completed several installations of the device. It is compatible with the company’s PowerVision, CoreVision, and Eccocee scanners, and functions at bandwidths from 13-3 MHz.
Other Toshiba highlights included new technologies first introduced at last year’s RSNA meeting. The company discussed cardiac and brain perfusion applications for its multislice CT scanners, while in x-ray Toshiba has added new features such as bolus-chase digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and extended field-of-view for its Ultimax angiography system. In MRI, Toshiba reprised its demonstration of the Pianissimo Plus gradient noise-suppression technique for the 1.5-tesla Excelart scanner.
On the PACS side, Toshiba is rolling out a miniPACS concept specifically designed for European customers. The system uses DVD-based storage available in three levels, ranging from shelf-based DVD archiving to a 5.64-TB jukebox archive. The system can be used as a stepping stone to a miniPACS, or as a smaller modality-based archive operating in tandem with a central PACS, according to the company.
By Brian CaseyAuntMinnie.com staff writer
March 4, 2001
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