Partnership Established to Expand Integration Systems for Image-Guided Minimally Invasive Therapies

Philips Healthcare (Best, The Netherlands), a developer of image-guided therapies, has signed an agreement with Image Stream Medical (ISM; Littleton, MA, USA) that allows Philips to further expand its integration systems for its hybrid suite and interventional lab solutions with integrated video and live-streaming capabilities. As part of the agreement, Philips has acquired a minority stake in ISM.

The trend towards image-guided minimally invasive therapies continues to increase, requiring integrated systems that enable physicians to optimally perform their procedures. ISM is a leading provider of advanced solutions for the control, routing, capturing and management of data and images utilized in various procedural environments, including hybrid suites and interventional labs. Through this partnership, Philips will be able to offer complete integration solutions and associated consultancy services, complementing its offering of live-image guided solutions, clinical informatics and services. The combined Philips and ISM offering will be available in the United States from January 2015 onwards.

“Integrated video and live streaming capabilities have become increasingly critical to connecting clinicians and enabling remote collaboration, in both interventional and hybrid environments,” said Bert van Meurs, general manager of image-guided therapy at Philips. “With a similar consultative approach to customer engagements, the partnership with Image Stream Medical is a natural extension of our current image-guided minimally invasive therapy offering, and this addition further reinforces our commitment to connecting care across the health continuum.”

Image-guided minimally invasive therapies, particularly those performed in the hybrid suite, are complicated and technically demanding. They, however, provide key benefits for health systems and patients, including reduced patient trauma, shorter recovery times and shorter hospital stays, thereby contributing to lower healthcare costs. For these procedures, there is a distinct need for the comprehensive integration of real-time data from all pertinent technologies, thereby making these procedures more effective and easier to perform.

With this collaboration, Philips will be able to extend its product range in the interventional and hybrid domain with comprehensive integration of real-time information in and outside the lab.

ISM’s platform, including audio/video integration, informatics integration, recording, streaming and conferencing solutions, has enabled more effective collaborative environments for conducting minimally invasive surgical procedures. EasySuite, ISM’s latest integrated solution, is designed to enhance operating room, hybrid suite and interventional lab flexibility, staff satisfaction and patient safety, and enables secure and easy sharing and archiving of data inside and outside the lab—including data for the electronic medical record (EMR).

“Image Stream Medical is very pleased to enter into this partnership with Philips in the image-guided therapy field, a natural extension of our perioperative solution,” said Eddie Mitchell, CEO of Image Stream Medical. “ISM provides a workflow centered platform for integrating surgical and procedural video information across the hospital enterprise, facilitating efficiency, teamwork, collaboration and learning. The complexity of the hybrid suite demands these capabilities. By partnering with Philips, ISM solutions will bring value not only to Philips’ hybrid suite customers, but also to its interventional lab customers.”

Philips’ focus on image-guided therapies is a strategic component of the company’s holistic approach to the delivery of care across the health continuum, from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment, recovery and home care. Philips and ISM presented their combined solutions at the Radiological Society of North America annual meeting (RSNA), held November 30th through December 5th in Chicago (IL, USA).

By focusing exclusively on surgical image management solutions, Image Stream Medical is a provider for the control, routing, streaming, capture and management of surgical images. Image Stream’s EasySuite vendor-neutral operating room (OR) integration interfaces with any standard video-assisted surgical equipment. Image Stream's digital image management products are currently being utilized in surgical disciplines such as neurosurgery, cardiac, thoracic, vascular, endovascular, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and gynecology, trauma, urology, plastic and general surgery.

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