Thursday, December 25, 2008

American Institute Of Ultrasound In Medicine To Host 2009 Annual Convention In New York

Registration is open for the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) 2009 Annual Convention and Preconvention Program to be held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City, New York, Thursday through Sunday, April 2-5, 2009.

Initial registration numbers indicate that 2009 will prove to be better attended than the 2007 meeting at this same location, regarded as the AIUM's most successful convention in history. During the 4-day meeting, attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the latest research in medical ultrasound, connect with colleagues from around the world, enhance their professional skills, and view the newest advancements in ultrasound technology while earning up to 33.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (accepted by the ARDMS) or ARRT Category A Credits.

source: Medical News Today

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Study Finds Survival Benefit Among Hospitalized Patients Undergoing Definity®- Enhanced Echocardiography

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. a worldwide leader in diagnostic imaging, announced recently new data from a retrospective, multicenter, cohort study of over four million hospitalized patients that shows similar unadjusted mortality rates for patients receiving DEFINITY® Vial For (Perflutren Lipid Microsphere) Injectable Suspension enhanced resting echocardiography exams when compared with patients who did not receive DEFINITY®. Although the patients that received DEFINITY® were sicker on average and had a higher baseline mortality risk prior to the exam, following DEFINITY® administration these same patients exhibited a 24% reduced risk of mortality over 24 hours compared to the those patients who received only echocardiography without the ultrasound contrast agent. These study findings were published in the December 2008 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

"As the largest retrospective, observational study to date to examine the short-term safety profile of perflutren-containing ultrasound contrast agents, the data highlight the relatively low incidence of adverse safety reactions associated with DEFINITY® and demonstrate a significantly lower risk of acute mortality for patients receiving DEFINITY®-enhanced echocardiograms," said Mark Hibberd, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Medical Director, Global Medical Affairs, Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc. and co-author on the study.

source: Lantheus

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Groundbreaking, Inexpensive, Pocket-sized Ultrasound Device Can Help Treat Cancer, Relieve Arthritis

Newswise — A prototype of a therapeutic ultrasound device, developed by a Cornell graduate student, fits in the palm of a hand, is battery-powered and packs enough punch to stabilize a gunshot wound or deliver drugs to brain cancer patients. It is wired to a ceramic probe, called a transducer, and it creates sound waves so strong they instantly cause water to bubble, spray and turn into steam.

Tinkering in his Olin Hall lab, George K. Lewis, a third-year Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering and a National Science Foundation fellow, creates ultrasound devices that are smaller, more powerful and many times less expensive than today's models. Devices today can weigh 30 pounds and cost $20,000; his is pocket-sized and built with $100. He envisions a world where therapeutic ultrasound machines are found in every hospital and medical research lab.

"New research and applications are going to spin out, now that these systems will be so cheap, affordable and portable in nature," Lewis said.
The development of one of his portable devices is detailed in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments (79-114302), published online Nov. 11

source: newswise

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Acusphere Announces Results of FDA Advisory Committee Meeting

Acusphere, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACUS) today announced that the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised that the diagnostic benefit of contrast enhancement using Acusphere's ImagifyTM (Perflubutane Polymer Microspheres) for Injectable Suspension is not sufficient to justify the risks associated with the product. The vote was sixteen against, one in favor and one abstention. The Committee also discussed concerns that they would like addressed to support approval of the product for the detection of coronary artery disease.

"We appreciate the support Imagify has received from a wide variety of cardiologists, who are eager for FDA to enable them to use the drug in their practices to improve accessibility, reduce costs and avoid exposure to radiation," said Sherri C. Oberg, President and CEO, Acusphere. "We continue to believe in Imagify for its intended purpose and will work with FDA through the completion of the review process to determine what additional information might be required for approval."

The Advisory Committee's recommendations, while not binding, will be considered by the FDA in its review of the New Drug Application (NDA) of Imagify. The expected FDA target action date for Imagify under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) is February 28, 2009.

source: Acusphere

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

ICON Medical Imaging Launches New Cardiac Echocardiography Analysis Software

DUBLIN, December 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR)(ISIN:IE0005711209), a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, today announced that its Medical Imaging division has launched a new cardiac echocardiography analysis software solution. The software, MIRA-ECHO, enables cardiac echocardiography (ECHO) images to be viewed, measured and interpreted in clinical trials and is the latest addition to ICON Medical Imaging's proprietary MIRA(TM) (Medical Imaging Review and Analysis) platform.

Dr. Jonathan Goldman MD, Chief Medical Officer at ICON Medical Imaging, and a recognised expert in echocardiography commented: "MIRA-ECHO satisfies an important unmet need in clinical trials that involve ECHO. For the first time we have a solution that allows us to adjust and fine-tune traced cardiac measurements stored in the eCRF against a moving source image, whilst maintaining regulatory compliance and an audit trail. Combining MIRA-ECHO to the existing MIRA-QCA module for quantitative coronary angiography allows us to offer clients unparalleled capabilities for cardiovascular assessments."

source: PR Newswire

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ultrasound screening helps prevent stroke in children with sickle cell disease

Screening with an ultrasound machine has proved highly successful in preventing stroke among children with sickle cell disease, by identifying children who are then preventively treated with blood transfusions. Over an eight-year period at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers found that the technique, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD), along with regular transfusions for children found to be at high risk, reduced stroke to one-tenth of the incidence found before TCD was introduced.

"We studied the impact of using TCD starting in 1998, when the technique became routine at our hospital and many other centers," said Janet L. Kwiatkowski, M.D., a pediatric hematologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Kwiatkowski presented her group's results today at a press conference during the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Childhood stroke has long been known to be a devastating complication of sickle cell disease, an inherited condition in which abnormal hemoglobin deforms red blood cells into sickle-shaped bodies that do not pass smoothly through blood vessels.

TCD is a noninvasive tool that uses ultrasound waves to measure the speed of blood flow in large vessels in the brain. An abnormally high speed is a marker of a narrowed vessel, and a sign of high risk for stroke.

source: EurekAlert

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Ultrasound Transducer Disinfection in many Cases insufficient - New ‘Trophon EPR’ Device offers unique Solution

(openPR) - Hamburg, December 5, 2008: Current methods of ultrasound transducer disinfection are in many cases not sufficient for clinical practice. This is the latest alarming result issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading US public health agency, in its recently published Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities (1). The guideline is the CDC’s response to the rapidly evolving epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections such as Clostridium difficile (2) or MRSA (3).

In light of this global threat, and with regard to the millions of ultrasound examinations conducted each day, Nanosonics’ newest product innovation represents a long-needed milestone in the development of medical devices: due to its unique technology, the Trophon EPR completely satisfies all requirements of the new CDC guideline.

source: openPR.com

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Toshiba Showcases New Women's Ultrasound Imaging Techniques and Transducer at RSNA

CHICAGO, Nov 30, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- To help improve diagnostic confidence in breast imaging and women's health, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has developed a new and exclusive ultrasound technique - MicroPure(TM), which helps physicians detect breast lesions and micro-calcifications more clearly. In addition, Toshiba will also be showcasing its new 18 MHz high resolution Dynamic Micro Slice transducer for breast imaging, its quantitative sonoelastography suite, ElastoQ (works-in-progress), and Spatio-Temporal Image Correlation (STIC). Toshiba will showcase these advances at this year's Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, Nov. 30 - Dec. 5, 2008 (Booth #3429, South Hall).

"Increasing the ability to use ultrasound to image the breast is a significant development," said Gordon Parhar, director, Ultrasound Business Unit, Toshiba. "We believe these advances will benefit many women across the country."

source: MarketWatch

Monday, December 1, 2008

SonoSite Announces the New S-GYN™ A Specialized Ultrasound Tool for Gynecologists

Bothell, WA, December 1, 2008 - SonoSite, Inc. (Nasdaq:SONO), the world leader and specialist in hand-carried ultrasound for the point-of-care, introduced today the S-GYN™ ultrasound tool, a streamlined, custom-designed solution for gynecologists who want to perform imaging for diagnosis and procedural guidance right in the patient exam room.

“I have two great big machines in my office, but for a lot of what I’m doing in my day-to-day practice, such as evaluating abnormal bleeding, checking the ovaries or uterine structures for polyps or fibroids - I can do all that with the S-GYN without having to move my patient out of the exam room,” said Shaunie Keys, MD of Evergreen Women’s Care, in Kirkland, WA. “A big advantage of the S-GYN system is its portability and that I don’t have to disrupt work flow by shuffling patients to different rooms or interrupt my ultrasound tech’s schedule. It’s easy to learn and provides really good imaging. My patients feel more confident knowing that I will complete the ultrasound exam and they will have their results before leaving the office.”

source: SonoSite