Press Releases
TeraRecon rises to the MDCT challenge
with AquariusNET next-generation PACS at ECR 2002
San Mateo, CA--March
1, 2002: TeraRecon
announced recent advances in the company's AquariusNET PACS system
at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2002 in Vienna, Austria.
AquariusNET was conceived by a radiologist, TeraRecon's president
and CEO, Motoaki Saito, M.D., to re-vitalize clinical workflow in
light of the demands placed by modern scanning modalities. As such,
AquariusNET represents a next-generation solution to the challenges
faced by medical imaging facilities that need to manage ever-increasing
numbers of images generated by modern Multi-Detector CT (MDCT) and
Magnetic Resonance (MR) scanners. The system also supports archiving
and review of images from CR/DR and x-ray angiography.
"The expanding volume of data generated
by modern imaging modalities poses several distinct challenges for
radiology," said Robert Taylor, Ph.D., chief operating officer of
TeraRecon. "Firstly, efficient and effective methodologies must be
established for the review of datasets with hundreds or even thousands
of slices. Current accepted practice involves radiologist review of
each slice, but as the number of slices increases, this becomes impractical,
and new tools are required which can increase efficiency and maintain
effectiveness and throughput. Anticipating this need, AquariusNET
offers the radiologist more than conventional 2D review, by including
as standard 3D tools such as MPR, Slab MIP, and 3D Volume Rendering
on diagnostic reading stations or regular PCs for review. The system
is also capable of time-volume review such as 4D visualization of
a multi-phase Cardiac CTA or MRA study."
"The next challenge to be overcome is the
time required to move these large datasets around the enterprise,
and the security issues raised by storing multiple copies of medical
images around the network. The original PACS communication protocol
DICOM, was quickly discovered to be too slow for efficient transport
within a PACS system, and so vendors moved to architectures that used
proprietary protocols for the transport of images within the vendor's
own PACS network. However, even this approach is not ideal for the
huge MDCT datasets that can be produced today, and regulations such
as HIPAA that have been recently introduced in the US pose challenges
for auditing access to studies which is hard to achieve when multiple
copies of the data are distributed across the network."
"AquariusNET addresses all these issues
with a simple, elegant solution," explained Taylor. "All images reside
on the powerful AquariusNET server, and thin client applications installed
on review stations around the network merely receive screen updates
streamed to them on demand. This allows for controlled auditing, and
instant access to any image from within archives with hundreds of
gigabytes of data, without the need to route the study in advance
to a particular review station. Fully integrated 2D and 3D review
are provided for, with simultaneous side-by-side review of several
studies possible in 2D, 3D or 4D, even from different modalities.
The system also includes powerful integrated reporting tools that
can build an interactive report in seconds with images and active
objects from all exams relating to a patient and their condition,
rather than being driven just by one particular modality. From one
client station, a radiologist may prepare a report and file it on
the server , such that it becomes available to any other client on
the network, and may even be e-mailed to a referring physician or
other recipient. Once the recipient opens the report, the embedded
images come to life and may be manipulated without any special software
or hardware requirement. Even a simple notebook PC can run the client
application and enjoy the power of interactive 3D volume rendering
with a high frame rate, powered by the AquariusNET server elsewhere
on the network."
"This innovation is only possible because
of our patented VolumePro® 1000 hardware solution for medical
image processing," continued Dr. Taylor. "Through this application
of multiple VolumePro® boards in one of our AquariusNET servers,
we are able to free the server's processors to concentrate on image
management and distribution, with all image processing and memory
management performed on VolumePro®. This gives our server the
power to stream thousands of slices in real time, managing multiple
remote session concurrently with 2D, 3D and even 4D review. This is
something that a server based on conventional processors could not
achieve, since the processing power of the server would be consumed
by just one or two interactive sessions. As such, AquariusNET represents
a truly significant breakthrough in the management of MDCT data from
modern scanners with 8,16 and soon, 32 detector rows."
TeraRecon recently launched AquariusNET
in Japan in partnership with the company's Japanese distributor, ELK
Corporation. Two symposia entitled Imaging Visionaries 2002 were held
in Osaka and Tokyo, and the innovation of AquariusNET was immediately
acknowledged by the numerous clinical evaluation sites established
to date. The product's US launch is now underway.
About TeraRecon, Inc.
TeraRecon, Inc. is a technology-driven provider of advanced 3D imaging
systems for medical and other visualization applications, with solutions
based on its unique and patented image processing technologies. The
company has developed a leading portfolio of products that advance
the performance, quality, functionality, and integration of image
processing and 3D visualization systems. Founded in 1997, TeraRecon
has developed a unique family of powerful processors that are used
in its real-time diagnostic workstations, enterprise-wide 3D imaging
servers using thin-client PCs, color Doppler ultrasound systems, mini
gamma cameras, high performance reconstruction engines, and real-time
volume rendering hardware engines. TeraRecon is a fast growing, privately
held company with headquarters in San Mateo, CA, and branch offices
in Concord, MA; Tokyo, Japan; Osaka, Japan; and Trondheim, Norway.
Contact:
TeraRecon, Inc.
Robert Taylor, Ph.D.
COO & Executive VP
650.372.1100
taylor@terarecon.com
www.terarecon.com
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