Dec. 6 — In a Wednesday meeting with investors, the New York City-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) announced it will lay off approximately 10 percent of its 43,000 employees and close half of its production facilities, which would cut $1.5 billion in costs by 2010, when BMS is scheduled to lose its exclusivity to the Plavix patent.

Dec. 6 – Agfa HealthCare will showcase its Impax Cardiovascular Suitewith an integrated Echocardiography module for the first time at theEuroEcho, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal this week.

Dec. 6 – Agfa HealthCare is showcasing its Impax Cardiovascular Suitewith an integrated Echocardiography module for the first time at theEuroEcho, this week in Lisbon, Portugal.

 A new technology, in which fluoroscopy and 3D imaging from a cone-beamCT flat-panel detector C-arm unit are combined with an integratedtracking and navigation system, may offer clinicians increasedinterventional radiologic capabilities, according to a recent studypublished in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Dec. 5 – The use of an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) -guidedpercutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents (DES)yields clinical benefit in terms of stent thrombosis and majoradverse cardiac events, regardless of DES type, according to a studythat took place at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington,D.C.

Dec. 3—The 93rd scientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago concluded last Thursday to its largest attendance of the meeting with 61,961 attendees.

Dec. 3—CT scans detect cancers early, making the modality effectivedespite reimbursement problems and radiation risks, according to a presentation at the 93rdscientific assembly and annual meeting of the Radiological Society ofNorth America (RSNA) in Chicago last week. Charles White, MD, directorof thoracic medicine and professor of radiology and medicine at theUniversity of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, also said thatcalcium scoring is superior to CT for detection of coronary arterydisease.

Echocardiography has been the most widely-used diagnostic test forheart disease for more than 50 years for good reason. It’s portable,safe and technological advancements keep the modality at the forefrontof screening and diagnosing heart disease. Looking ahead, cardiologistsare eyeing 4D cardiac imaging and ever-smaller equipment.