Press Releases

TeraRecon Launches iNtuition Platform Architecture for Aquarius

San Mateo, CA--November 7, 2006: TeraRecon, Inc. announced iNtuition™, a unified platform architecture for its Aquarius product line which is designed to deliver an optimized enterprise solution for advanced image management of volumetric imaging data from modalities such as MDCT, MR or PET. The iNtuition architecture is designed to provide a foundation for TeraRecon’s Aquarius products,
by taking the best elements of the existing Aquarius image processing tools, editing tools, and
clinical workflow features, and presenting them more dynamically, interactively and widely
through a fully client-server based architecture. iNtuition enables the delivery of personalized,
targeted tools and solutions to meet the diverse processing needs found throughout an imaging
enterprise.

Stand-alone 3D workstations have become a workflow bottleneck for volumetric modalities
such as 64-slice MDCT, and generally, PACS offerings available today are not well-equipped
to handle such data. With iNtuition, Aquarius becomes a simple-to-deploy and flexible
solution designed to manage this “slice overload” problem in an enterprise. The iNtuition
architecture will enable Aquarius to be configured as an advanced, procedural workstation for
the 3D technologist, a powerful reading tool for the diagnosing physician, and a fast, simple
review tool for the referring MD. Such capabilities will be possible in a fully client-server
mode without sacrificing advanced image processing capabilities, because iNtuition includes
automated pre-processing (AquariusAPS) which can be programmed to automatically perform
a variety of image processing steps such as bone removal and detection of centerlines, among
others. iNtuition then enables optional validation and correction of the automatically
processed data by a specialist such as a 3D technologist, allowing the reading physician to
focus more time directly on diagnosis, and allowing the referring physician to directly access
the 3D results for therapy planning or patient consultation without having to deal with
complex and time-consuming editing or presentation tasks.

The automated procedures currently available on the AquariusAPS server element of the
iNtuition architecture are as follows: automatic removal of the CT table, automated removal
of the ribs from chest CT scans, automated removal of bony structures from CT scans,
extraction of luminal centerlines, image registration, calculation of parametric maps from
time-dependent MR or other data, and automated detection of spherical structures and
annotation thereof as potential regions of interest. Such procedures can be programmed to run
automatically upon scan completion, or interactively upon invocation by the user of a thin-client
terminal. Thus, even without a powerful PC, a thin client user can access advanced
image processing techniques performed remotely on the powerful AquariusAPS server.

AquariusAPS works by automatically creating and saving pre-calculated interactive “scenes”.
A scene is a DICOM-format data file used to store the results of some processing step
(manually or automatically performed), such that it can later be opened, either to restore the
system to a previous state for continued processing, or to facilitate direct review of the
appropriate representation of the data. The scenes automatically generated by AquariusAPS
can be opened and validated, even modified, by a specialist, and then re-saved for the
physician to later open in the final, validated state. If desired, the validation can be performed
directly by the physician themselves.

In addition to advanced processing tools, an essential element of viable enterprise image
management for large volumetric datasets is sufficient 3D rendering power. The “engine” of
the system determines how responsive it can be to users’ requests, and how high the quality of
the images thus generated will be. As such, iNtuition supports the best-in-class VolumePro
rendering hardware from TeraRecon and will also support any future generation of the
VolumePro engine, allowing the Aquarius system to leverage newly upgraded processing
engines as they become available.

Beyond raw power, an enterprise architecture must be aware of the other products and
solutions in use in the enterprise, and it must work as seamlessly as possible with them to optimize workflow. With this goal in mind, iNtuition is designed to provide an enterprise-wide
back-end for the Aquarius products supporting IHE / HL7 and DICOM integration with
the PACS / RIS / EMR infrastructure, and leveraging client-server processing architecture
whenever advantageous to the task at hand.

TeraRecon executive vice president and COO Robert Taylor, Ph.D. stated “As imaging
modalities have advanced and applications have matured, the challenge for the providers of
image management systems has become one of automation and access. We now have to
deliver appropriate representations of the acquired scans in a timely manner, directly to a
variety of professionals who need them. iNtuition has been designed with exactly this
challenge in mind, and we have not compromised or allowed our vision to be limited to the
next 6 months or one year. iNtuition is a platform for the future that will allow Aquarius to
evolve to meet and exceed the image management requirements of the healthcare enterprise
for many years to come.”

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