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Siemens Retools Healthcare Division

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:39:41 +0000

German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG on April 30 announced changes in the organization of its Siemens Healthcare division that include creating separate divisions for advanced imaging modalities and less complex radiology systems.

Effective May 1, the Erlangen, Germany-based Healthcare division will still consist of three divisions: Imaging and Therapy Systems, Clinical Products and Diagnostics. Imaging and Therapy Systems will bring together the business with more advanced devices, including CT, MRI and PET systems, for diagnostic imaging and therapy. Therapy products mainly comprise angiography systems, linear accelerators, particle therapy systems, and minimally invasive procedures.

The Clinical Products division will include less complex products such as x-ray and ultrasound equipment that had been run jointly with the large-scale medical device business, as well as the components business. Diagnostics will continue to include the company’s laboratory diagnostics business, with products such as blood analyzers and reagents.

Siemens sited changes in customer groups in the healthcare market for its actions. www.auntminnie.com

ALOKA Ultrasound’s Pro Sound Alpha 6 Wins International Design Award

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:39:19 +0000

ALOKA Ultrasound recently announced that its newly released full featured compact ultrasound system, the ProSound Alpha 6, won a 2010 International Forum (iF) product design award in the Medicines and Healthcare category. The iF Product Design Award is one of the prestigious awards worldwide and is granted by the International Forum Design in Germany. The feature rich ProSound Alpha 6 is a compact and user-friendly, yet powerful, ultrasound system, inheriting high image quality and high-end features from ALOKA’s premium systems.

ZONARE Installs 11 Ultrasound Systems at Decatur Vein Clinic Sites

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:39:00 +0000

Decatur Vein Clinic, a provider of chronic venous insufficiency healthcare services, announced it has installed 11 additional ultrasound systems from ZONARE Medical Systems, bringing their total number of z.one ultrasound systems to 24. The systems are spread over clinics in Indiana, Michigan and Colorado. The z.one ultrasound platform’s software-based architecture allows its performance to continue to improve as greater processing power becomes available. System software upgrades can be downloaded over the internet.

Toshiba Names New Executives

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:38:36 +0000

Toshiba America Medical Systems has promoted Senior Vice President Satoshi Tsunakawa to President and CEO. Additionally, Toshiba has named Tomo Hasegawa as the new director of its ultrasound unit, and has promoted Marketing Services Director Catherine Wolfe to Senior Director of Corporate and Strategic Communications. www.healthimaging.com

B-K Medical’s Flex Focus Mobile Ultrasound Scanner Wins Red Dot Product Design Award

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:38:15 +0000

The Flex Focus™ mobile ultrasound scanner, designed by B-K Medical, has received a 2010 Red Dot Product Design Award. The Red Dot Award, given by Germany’s Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, is one of the largest and most renowned product design awards in the world. This year, an expert panel of jurors evaluated 4252 entries based on criteria that included the degree of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, and durability. The Flex Focus is a full-featured mobile ultrasound solution that is lightweight, easy to use, and features proprietary IQPAC™ technology for advanced image quality.

GE Targets Ultrasound Energy Reduction

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:37:29 +0000

GE Healthcare is joining with other medical device manufacturers to commit to a 25% reduction in average energy consumption of new ultrasound products by 2012.

With support from the European Commission, GE and a group of 10 other medical device firms within the European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical, and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) have committed to this self-regulatory initiative for the energy-efficient design of medical imaging equipment, according to the Chalfont St. Giles, U.K.-based vendor.

Additional imaging modalities will be added to the self-regulation program each year, GE said.

COCIR’s Energy Related Products (ErP) framework establishes a framework for setting resource efficiency standards by product platform and increasing focus on product lifecycle. Rigorous enforcement measurements will also be put in place to ensure that requirements are met and environmental improvements achieved before product commercialization, according to the company. www.auntminnie.com

SonoSite Begins $50M Stock Repurchase Program

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:37:09 +0000

SonoSite, a provider of point-of-care ultrasound systems, has begun a stock repurchase program under which the company may purchase up to $50 million of its common stock over the next 12 months.

Since February 2010, SonoSite has repurchased a total of approximately three million shares of its common stock through a modified “Dutch Auction” tender offer at a total cost of $88.8 million.

SonoSite said that the program does not obligate it to acquire any particular amount of common stock and the program may be modified or suspended at any time at the company’s discretion. Any repurchases would be funded from available cash on hand.

As of March 31, the company reported approximately $178 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investment securities. www.healthimaging.com

Ultrasound Market Set for Recovery

letchells — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:36:50 +0000

After a down year in 2009 and continued challenges in 2010, the global ultrasound market will return to growth in 2011, according to a report from market research firm InMedica.

The ultrasound imaging equipment sector generated $4.9 million in revenues in 2009, down 6% from 2008, according to the Wellingborough, U.K.-based firm. Healthcare spending cuts and postponed equipment purchasing in Western Europe and North America will continue to slow recovery, InMedica said.

InMedica also pointed to continued economic uncertainty in Europe and further expected public health cuts as a limiting factor in 2010. In positive developments, strong growth in the developing markets of the Asia-Pacific region has offset declines in other developed regions. InMedica is forecasting that this region will become the largest world market for ultrasound by 2011.

In other findings, InMedica noted that the economic downturn has affected the market for ultrasound systems less than for other imaging modalities. www.auntminnie.com

Janet Roe, University of Iowa, Named Most Effective Radiology Administrator by Aunt Minnie

letchells — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:43:04 +0000

Janet Roe

AuntMinnie.com sponsors a campaign every year to recognize individuals in the radiology field and institutions for their excellence in radiology. Candidates are nominated by AuntMinnie.com members, and finalists are selected by an expert panel of radiology professionals. This year 137 candidates in 13 categories were nominated. Of these candidates, Janet Roe, Technical Director of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, was voted Most Effective Radiology Administrator/Manager by AuntMinnie.com.

GE Awarded $1.2M NIH Grant

letchells — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:23:00 +0000

GE Healthcare sister company GE Global Research has been awarded a two-year $1.2 million grant under the U.S. government’s stimulus program from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The grant was awarded to develop a low-cost transducer for portable ultrasound systems that will produce high-quality images for monitoring pregnancy, according to the Niskayuna, New York-based research branch. The goal of the project is to increase access to prenatal care by simplifying the use and reducing the cost of ultrasound systems.

Besides developing the technology, GE will partner with maternal and fetal medicine physicians at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, UT, to evaluate the equipment and education of young physicians in both hospital and rural health settings.

Expanding the use of ultrasound in under-served communities is expected to improve the detection and diagnosis of such life-threatening conditions as ectopic pregnancy, placenta previa, fetal malposition, and pre-eclampsia, said the firm. www.auntminnie.com