Joint Effort Provides Advanced 3D Visualization for PACS

Advanced visualization and decision support tools have been developed to unify clinical imaging workflow and improved report performance.

Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Beglium) has teamed up with TeraRecon, Inc. (Foster City, CA, USA), a developer of enterprise advanced visualization and decision support solutions. Together, they have combined the unified image and information management workflow of Agfa HealthCare’s Impax 6 picture archiving and communication system (PACS) with the advanced image processing of TeraRecon’s flagship iNtuition solution.

iNtuition provides a wide range of advanced clinical tools for volumetric imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for visualization, interpretation, quantitative analysis, planning, and follow up. The joint effort will allow Agfa HealthCare to deliver an extended desktop that keeps pace with the reporting needs for today's complex imaging technologies.

“While many customers are satisfied with basic 3D [three-dimensional] tools for viewing their CT and MRI studies, there is an increasing portion of the imaging market which requires more sophisticated features and clinical tools that can efficiently handle large data volumes,” said Bob Craske, senior marketing manager, radiology PACS, Agfa HealthCare, US, “Through this relationship with TeraRecon, Agfa HealthCare is offering an extended Impax PACS desktop that provides information and tools in a unified workflow, in order to improve reporting performance and offer informed results.”

iNtuition for Impax offers many benefits to the customer including: server-based processing, which eliminates the need for expensive, high-performance workstation on every personal computer (PC), making it easy to use anywhere, anytime; full integration into the Imapx Reporting workflow, for greater reporting efficiency; the ability to save results as new images, series or reports to make them available to Impax Enterprise users; and the ability to store and serve images independently from the PACS, offering a tiered approach to image archiving.

The iNtuition suite also includes the zero-footprint AquariusWeb viewer, which allows access to a fully 3D interactive set of key image findings, including vascular analysis and other interactive quantitative results. AquariusWeb can be readily integrated with an electronic medical record system, because it can be launched from a simple URL referring to the iNtuition server and to the patient or study in question.

The solution is available as a highly-scalable and flexible software license that can be deployed across multiple servers as the needs and characteristics of the enterprise change or grow, and that can be scaled up for additional capacity without the need to deploy or manage additional assets client-side.

“We’re pleased to be able to work with Agfa HealthCare to meet our most demanding visualization requirements,” said Robert Taylor, PhD, president and CEO, TeraRecon. “TeraRecon’s seamlessly integrated, highly scalable information technology solution for advanced visualization and decision support complements Agfa HealthCare’s globally recognized solutions for enterprise-wide management of imaging services.”

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Agfa HealthCare
TeraRecon