April 10, 2008 – The ninth annual American Society of Breast Surgeons meeting, set for May 2 in New York, NY, offers new research and trends in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Featured topics include “Breast Cancer ‘Thumb Printing’ Potentially Saves Women From Chemotherapy,” “Groundbreaking Nuclear Medicine Helps Screen for Hard-to-Detect Breast Cancer” “New Radiospectroscopy Probe Helps Detect Positive Tumor Margins to Avoid Repeat Surgeries” and ”Breast Cancer and Infertility: Family Planning During and after Treatment.”

April 10, 2008 - Northwest Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle this week was named among the top 5 percent of hospitals in the U.S. for patient safety based on a study by HealthGrades, a healthcare ratings company.

As a result of its findings, HealthGrades has recognized Northwest Hospital with the 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety. It is the second year in a row the hospital has received this distinction.

Northwest Hospital is one of only 249 organizations in the nation, and one of only nine in Washington State to receive the award for 2008.

April 10, 2008 - Power Medical Interventions Inc. launched its green staple reload cartridge for use in its i60 Intelligent Surgical Instruments, computer-assisted, power-actuated endomechanical instruments for cutting, stapling and tissue manipulation in open surgery and minimally invasive surgery.

The i60 has indications in gastrointestinal, gynecological, general abdominal, and thoracic surgical procedures for resection, transection, creation of anastomoses, and for open occlusion of the heart’s left atrial appendage.

April 10, 2008 – Draeger Medical Inc. recently received FDA clearance for its SmartCare/PS option for the EvitaXL ventilator, which the company said will help reduce ventilation time, the duration of weaning and stays in the ICU.


Making a large initial investment in a storage archive solution is usually not a priority for facilities strapped for capital budgets. Still, there is increased pull for general digital imaging and archiving solutions because data storage has become business critical.

Return on investment (ROI) is an important consideration for any capital equipment purchase, and that includes information technology (IT). All too often, healthcare facilities view IT investments such as PACS with one eye open – decision-makers examine the costs savings, but don’t take into account the impact of new business opportunities.

More so than in previous years at RSNA, has the imaging informatics arena been less dominated by PACS, and more by new advanced visualization and analytics solutions such as 3D/4D imaging, CAD and multimodality image fusion.

April 10, 2008 – Siemens created the Asset Management and Tracking (AMT) tool that provides information on the location of medical devices via a Web portal or pocket PC in order to help hospitals provide better patient care, reduce costs, improve workflow and remain compliant.

April 9, 2008 - Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-NY) recently introduced the (HR 5711) Assure Access to Mammography Act of 2008 into the U.S. House of Representatives to create a reimbursement floor for mammography services in 2009 equal to 115 percent of that paid for the services in 2008.

The reimbursement would be subject to geographic area adjustment in the same manner as for other physicians' services covered under the same Medicare fee schedule section.

April 10, 2008 - Breast Ultrasound Computer Aided Detection (CAD) developer and manufacturer, Medipattern and OEM partner SonoCiné successfully demonstrated automated whole breast ultrasound in breast screening applications in China.

In direct comparison between a doctor performing breast scans via traditional 2D frozen frame imaging and automated whole breast ultrasound, the whole breast method found more pathology, said the company.

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