Merge Healthcare has signed an agreement with Florence, S.C.-based McLeod Health System for the integration of its cardiology offerings, Vericis and Hemodynamics, with the provider’s existing Merge radiology offerings, Enterprise Content Manager and RadSuite.   Read more...

VirtualScopics, a provider of quantitative imaging for clinical trials, has entered into a scientific collaboration, specific to molecular imaging, with ABX-CRO, a Dresden, Germany-based full-service contract research organization (CRO).   Read more...

Medical imaging software provider TomTec has partnered with Agfa HealthCare for echocardiography image analysis tools, as well as reporting and data management tools for the European market.   Read more...

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, Institute for Radioelements in Fleurus, Belgium, and Ion Beam Applications in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, three major distributors of radioisotopes for medical exams in Europe, have partnered to secure the supply of technetium-99 (Tc-99m) beyond 2015.   Read more...

A hybrid SPECT/CT scanner from Siemens Healthcare, the Symbia T TruePoint, has been installed in the nuclear medicine department at Southend Hospital, part of Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Essex, U.K.   Read more...

Cardiac MRI revealed cardiac adaptations, including a balanced increase in left ventricular and right ventricular myocardial mass, wall thickness, ventricular dilation and diastolic function, among  elite triathletes, according to a study published in the October edition of Radiology.   Read more...

The FDA has granted 510(k) clearance for the LipiScan near-infrared (NIR) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) coronary imaging system from InfraReDx.   Read more...

The number of patient visits accommodated by the radiographic fluoroscopy (RF) departments increased at a rate of 3.5 percent per year between 2004 to 2009, while the total RF installed base declined at a rate of 2 to 3 percent per year over the past decade, according to a report issued by market research firm IMV Medical Information Division.   Read more...

Royal Philips Electronics has released its upgraded cardiac ultrasound, the iE33 xMATRIX cardiac ultrasound system, which now offers a X5-1 transducer for adult echocardiograms, at the European Society of Cardiology Congress (ESC) this week in Stockholm.   Read more...

The St. Jude Medical EnSite Cardiac Mapping system, a system used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, is now available for use in Japan.   Read more...

The California State Assembly in a bipartisan vote of 70-4 has approved SB 1237, which seeks to establish protocols and safeguards to protect patients from excess radiation exposure during CT scans by requiring radiation dosage levels be recorded on the scanned image and in a patient’s health records and that radiation overdoses be reported to patients, their treating physicians and the California Department of Public Health.   Read more...

The repair of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, the Netherlands, is proceeding well and the reactor is expected to achieve the first HFR Full Power Day (45 MW) on Sept. 9, according to the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group of the Netherlands.   Read more...

Medical imaging software provider TomTec has inked an agreement to integrate its quantification tools for 2D and 4D ultrasound imaging with ScImage’s PicomEnterprise PACS.   Read more...

The transition from a default transfemoral access approach for coronary angioplasty to a default transradial approach increased fluoroscopy time, according to a study published in the September edition of American Journal of Cardiology. The transradial approach increased dose-area product for diagnostic procedures, but not interventional procedures.   Read more...

Hansen Medical and St. Jude Medical have signed an agreement for the commercialization of complementary new products for the treatment of heart rhythm disorders.   Read more...

With the advent of 64-slice CT, coronary CT angiography (CCTA) exams of low-risk patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain are feasible given the nearly 100 percent negative predictive value of the test, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) published in the Aug. 17 issue of Circulation.   Read more...

The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has scheduled another extended outage for next spring, as part of the Chalk River Laboratories, National Research Universal (NRU) reactor's return to service activities.   Read more...

Whole-body FDG-PET scans revealed that visceral adipose tissue has increased glucose uptake compared with subcutaneous adipose tissue and the differences in stromal metabolic activity can aid in cardiovascular risk stratification, according to a study published in this month’s Journal of American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging.   Read more...

The nuclear medicine community has been pressuring the U.S. government to develop improved domestic capability for producing these materials to reduce this dependence, said Robert Atcher, PhD, MBA, immediate past president of SNM and director of National Isotope Development Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory in White Rock, N.M., at an opening session of the 240th conference of the American Chemical Society, held this week in Boston.   Read more...

Molecular Imaging and Contrast Agent Database (MICAD) has added 17 in vivo molecular imaging and contrast agents to its database, increasing the total to 865 agents.   Read more...