Quantum, Agfa release CR laptop

While laptop based Ultrasound Carts are relatively common, the same cannot be said for CR.

Quantum Medical Imaging and Agfa HealthCare have introduced the CR30-LSP+, a laptop CR30 configuration, for mobile imaging solutions. Configured with a rugged laptop, the unit is designed to have a magnesium alloy construction for years of reliable performance, and includes

• MUSICA2 image processing software
• NX2.0 software
• NX precision tools software
• 4 CR cassettes and plates
• An optional kit for mounting the CR30 digitizer into a mobile van

I wonder if it does DICOM image transfer via wireless..  

Siemens launches wireless healthcare asset management, tracking solution

“Siemens Healthcare has introduced its Asset Management Tracking (AMT) system that will enable healthcare personnel to monitor medical devices’ locations in real-time.

The AMT focuses on many issues that result from lost or stolen assets: patient care, cost reduction, workflow and regulatory, Siemens said.

AMT provides information on the location of medical devices via a web portal or pocket PC. Each product in the facility is tagged with the Ekahau Wi-Fi real-time location system tag.

Ramblings: Head Hunting and a promotion at work

Two nice things happened to me yesterday (there were some ‘bad’ things but…..)

Firstly, I got promoted.

Thats right, as of now, I’m the Cardiology (informatics) Product Manager for ASIA. (So instead of just ASEAN, I’m now covering the whole of Asia Pacific except Japan and India (due to their unique cultural requirements), just imagine the amount of opportunities awaiting in China…… whoa hoo!

Having said that, I didn’t get any pay increment (my MD told me its once a year) so the joy is only for the ‘recognition’ received.

Secondly, I got a call from a Head Hunter.

Granted that I’ve been headhunted for my past 2 jobs but still, being headhunted always make me feel good (the periodic job offer from friends/peers in the industry is also a good ego booster).

The ‘problem’ is, the job scope offered is 99% the same of my current position (not that I’m going to take the position anyway).

So that’s two good news I got for yesterday, its now time to get back to work, completing my MSc project, blog, do some research..

That’s it for now

Yahoo rejects Microsoft deadline as tech battle intensifies

Seems that the courtship between Microsoft and Yahoo is not exactly smooth sailing

” Yahoo on Monday rejected a three-week deadline from Microsoft to accept a 44.6 billion dollar takeover, as the battle between the two technology titans heated up.  Yahoo however said it was open to a sweetened bid from the software giant or another bidder.”

So the question is not if Yahoo is for sale but rather, the asking dollar.

If you are interested, read the original article here.

Data stored on CD media show vulnerability to alteration

in Feb 08, I blog about the need for more standard CD-ROMS as the current pratice / standards is crippling reporting clinican’s workflow, I reckon this piece will hightlight more issues with the media.

A study from Denmark reveals that data on the disc are not well-protected either and are vulnerable to easy alteration. “Identification information such as patient name, age, institute name, and date of imaging can be readily altered on DICOM files exported by CD media”

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not exactly something ‘new’, think about it, when you burn a document to a CD and you make changes to it, the changes are added onto the disk. While the original files are not altered, they are no longer reflected when you ‘launch’ the CD. Right

The article suggested potential solutions like;

Cleveland Clinic to deploy Siemens cardiology PACS enterprise-wide

Alright! Now we have Siemens Healthcare in line.

Siemens Healthcare has signed an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic to deploy their syngo Dynamics cardiology image management and reporting solution.  The deployment, which will begin in mid-2008, will enable Cleveland Clinic physicians and staff to read, archive and distribute images and information acquired from more than 90,000 echocardiography procedures, 32,000 cath lab procedures and 59,000 vascular studies each year.

The agreement will help Cleveland Clinic covers;

More on Google and Microsoft

Well, it comes as no surprise that the recent attempts by both Google and Microsoft to setup a free web based ‘ EHR’ is drawing alot of attention. There are so many articles that I reckon i’ll just list some of the interesting ones here

• Web-based repositories pose threat of unprotected records
• Online patient medical records will challenge radiologists and others

Enjoy !

McKesson updates web capabilities, vascular reporting of CVIS

The competition is slowly heating up.

McKesson showcased the new enhancements to its Horizon Cardiology cardiovascular information system (CVIS) at the 2008 American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Sessions, the enhancements includes

• Improved support for non-invasive vascular reporting
  (the feature is an extension of the single database design and includes support for more than 20 different vascular procedures)
• New web client drives workstation functionality to the user via the web
  (allowing for batch downloading of studies and gives the end user a choice of compressed or uncompressed DICOM images based on the bandwidth available)

Ramblings: Visit to Hitachi Data Systems

In most implementation of PACS (be it Radiology, Cardiology or any other variant), the inclusion of storage subsystems is only necessary, afterall, archiving is one of the main motivation for implmenting a PACS.

Part of my job includes solution design for potential adopters of my product (cardiology informatics), this includes workflow and operational analysis, system integration etc etc and storage is a huge component.

Storage comes in many forms, NAS, SAN, CAS, Tape and how they are implemented (IP or Fibre, Virtusalisation, how they replicate) can be extremely interesting and confusing as no one specific product suits all users (thats why we need solutions architects )

Ramblings: DELL Enterprise Solution Seminar

I attended a DELL seminar on Enterprise Solutions back on the 28th March, it covered 3 topics,

1. Green IT
2. Vitalisation (and how it saves the planet – see point 1)
3. Unified Communications