April 30, 2008 - Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering Inc., said Lehigh Valley Hospital (Cedar Crest, Allentown, PA) implemented the Amelior ORTracker system in its perioperative department in April.

The automatic tracking software was selected to help improve the efficiency of surgical care by visualizing the real-time care status of patients and the location of department resources. The Cedar Crest location is the first of three Lehigh Valley Hospital facilities to implement the software.

April 30, 2008 - Kimberly-Clark Healthcare and 3M Healthcare said today they formed a collaborative effort to empower central sterilization (CS) personnel in U.S. hospitals and raise awareness about their role in infection prevention.

May 1, 2008 - The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority today released its 2007 annual report that identifies issues with incident reporting at the state’s hospitals due to confusion over what to report.

April 30, 2008 - The Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) is currently accepting applications for the 2009 grant season, offering two $50,000 grants for one year to support original hypothesis-driven research in the field of imaging informatics for residents, fellows, graduate students and junior faculty.

April 30, 2008 - Acusphere has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA for approval to market Imagify (Perflubutane Polymer Microspheres for Injectable Suspension), an ultrasound imaging agent for the detection of coronary artery disease, which could prove as accurate as nuclear stress testing.

The NDA includes data from studies of Imagify in more than 1,000 patients worldwide, including two pivotal international multi-center Phase III clinical trials, RAMP-1 and RAMP-2 (Real-Time Assessment of Myocardial Perfusion).

April 29, 2008 – Nucletron will showcase its Oncentra Brachy, a comprehensive volume-based treatment planning system to optimize cancer treatment planning with brachytherapy, at the 2008 World Congress of Brachytherapy in Boston, MA from May 4-6.

April 29, 2008 - Six hospitals serving patients in rural Maryland announced plans today to improve patient care by implementing the VISICU eICU remote monitoring telemedicine program in each of their intensive care units.

Made possible by a $3 million grant from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the eICU Program marries medicine and technology to bring critical care physicians, also known as intensivists, to areas facing a shortage in this specialty.

April 29, 2008 – At the first European Lung Cancer Conference, The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) launched a free online database, aiming to help oncologists choose the best therapies for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

The online database brings together data on known somatic mutations in a molecule called epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR). Somatic mutations in this cell-surface molecule are known to affect treatment with the newer tyrosine kinase inhibitor class of drugs.

April 29, 2008 - A new neuroimaging study aims to ensure the highest quality of life for patients by assessing their cognitive skills before, during and after brain tumor surgery, by mapping the important functional brain areas surrounding the tumor in order to decrease the risks during surgery, at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University.

April 29, 2008 - HealthEast Care System publicized The National Brain Aneurysm Center and the www.brainaneurysmcenter.org Web site, formerly the HealthEast Neurovascular Institute, focusing on complex neurovascular conditions such as aneurysm, stroke, vascular malformations, brain tumors and more.

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