Agfa HealthCare has announced today that the AZ Monica acute care hospital in Antwerp, Belgium, has contracted the company to install ORBIS comprehensive hospital and clinical IT system. AZ Monica has 477 beds over two locations, and treats 18,000 inpatients and 40,000 outpatients annually. The solution will manage the entire patient flow through all departments at AZ Monica’s two hospital sites in Antwerp. The contract marks the first commercial implementation of ORBIS in Belgium, following the launch in the Belgian market in March of this year.

Philips Medical Systems has announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is using the Philips iE33 echocardiography system and QLAB Quantification software to evaluate the effects of space flight on the hearts of space shuttle astronauts and, in the near future, astronauts on the international space station and ground-based analogs.

Radlink, Inc., a supplier of medical imaging systems to healthcare providers, announced that it has signed an agreement with Flowood, MS-based Mid-South Medical Imaging to serve as master distributor of its CR Pro machine to healthcare organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of western Tennessee. The CR Pro utilizes Radlink’s sealed fiber-optic laser technology to deliver high-resolution, diagnostic-quality digital x-ray images.

The department of diagnostic radiology section of diagnostic ultrasound at the University of Kentucky (UK) recently received a perfect score and was awarded a three-year accreditation by the American College of Radiology (ACR) in gynecological and general ultrasound services. The perfect score came from an evaluation in which a series of case study ultrasounds were taken by the department that a physician interpreted to have not flaws in performance or reporting.

Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School reported that recurrent memory loss in older adults mirrors brain changes present in patients with very early Alzheimer's, even when standard cognitive tests came up normal.
"Cognitive complaints should be taken very seriously. Those with significant cognitive complaints and concerns should talk with their physicians and get a thorough evaluation," said researcher Andrew Saykin, a professor of psychiatry and radiology at Dartmouth Medical School, in Lebanon, N.H.