Siemens seeks to fulfill remaining imaging needs

At the 2008 Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) meeting in Seattle, Siemens Healthcare showcased its syngo suite portfolio of image management solutions.

The syngo suite is a web-enabled RIS and PACS with integrated image post-processing, computer-aided detection (CAD), embedded speech recognition, dictation and voice functions.

Rik Primo, director of marketing and strategic relationships at Siemens, told Health Imaging News that now that RIS and PACS have been widely adopted, CAD applications have moved from an academic procedure to the mainstream practice of radiology.

To highlight its tools in this field, Siemens featured several CAD applications, including syngo Lung CAD; syngo PE Detection; syngo Colonography PEV; syngo MammoCAD, syngo BRACE; syngo Auto EF; and syngo TrueD.

Primo noted that while most urban hospitals and academic institutions have deployed PACS, many imaging centers and rural hospitals have yet to adopt these capabilities. He noted that this is problematic, because if the facility installs a CT scanner, which will produce about 1,000 images per exam, it would be too costly to print all those images.

“Therefore, we have built a mini PACS, syngo Imaging XS, which comes from the same family as our other imaging system. The mini PACS typically comes with a couple of workstations, not 100 workstations, accommodating what is needed at a rural hospital or smaller facility.” However, syngo Imaging XS allows for web distribution and also has 3D capabilities, Primo explained.

“It’s a mini PACS, in that, it is scaled down in its capabilities, so it can handle five to eight workstations, but it is not scaled down in its functionality,” Primo said.

The syngo Imaging XS solution is tailored to a customer’s adapt volume and the solution supports centralized and de-centralized system architectures. As part of the syngo suite, syngo Imaging XS provides numerous modules for digital image reading, archiving as well as image distribution within a customer’s IT framework and departmental workflow. syngo Imaging XS comes with many IT standards, such as Windows-based hardware and software, standards-based interfaces and it includes advanced features.

Siemens also highlighted the capability of its syngo WebSpace to turn office PCs and laptops with internet access into CT workplaces, which offers real-time access to 3D data at a doctor’s office or home, and even on the road through a network connection.

One of the latest enhancements to syngo WebSpace being featured at SIIM was its advanced vessel analysis, which includes a refined vessel segmentation algorithm, centerline editing capability, guided workflows, automated measurement tools and improved reporting tools.

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