Agreement to Integrate Image Processing within a PACS Workflow Application

A worldwide agreement has been initiated to provide a comprehensive range of clinical nuclear medicine and multimodality applications.

Agfa HealthCare (Mortsel, Belgium), a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare information technology (IT) solutions, reported that it has signed an agreement with Segami Corp. (Columbia, MD, USA) to integrate the Oasis workstation software into the Agfa HealthCare's 6th generation picture archiving and communications system (PACS) known as Impax 6. The solution permits nuclear medicine physicians to review, process, and report studies using advanced processing software on their Impax workstation.

The introduction of Segami's Oasis software will provide nuclear physicians with a uniform reading and processing environment for all their planar nuclear medicine, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) studies, and deliver a full spectrum of clinical nuclear medicine and multi-modality applications. Advanced processing and reconstruction, multi-modality viewing, and reporting integrated into the Impax client's workflow will provide a unified working approach throughout the nuclear medicine department. This solution should deliver a considerable improvement in workflow, increase user convenience, and improve reporting efficiency. A single sign on and an individual's user profile is automatically applied at any Impax workstation across all integrated applications, delivering workflow and functionality tailored to each user's needs.

Oasis is a vendor-neutral application for gamma cameras and PET scanners from different vendors and adheres to standards such as Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM), IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise), and HL7 (Health Level 7) for a consistent and predictable workflow. Oasis is built using the latest technologies, providing a consistent user experience on a stable and high performance platform.

"Adding nuclear medicine functionality to the PACS environment significantly improves the clinical workflow, especially in multi-modality studies such as PET/CT and SPECT/CT,” stated Simon DeBruin, marketing manager for Segami Corp. "The alliance with Agfa HealthCare allows us to further grow the user base of our innovative and efficient software solutions.”

"The seamless integration of Oasis into Agfa HealthCare's sixth-generation PACS is an important step in streamlining patient care in the nuclear medicine department, by providing a single, comprehensive solution that automates clinical workflow. The integration with Impax will also facilitate the communication between nuclear medicine specialists and other departments and clinicians, by making the relevant information available throughout the enterprise,” stated Georgios Spitadakis, global business manager for imaging informatics at Agfa HealthCare.

Segami is a privately held company is a provider of software applications and clinical workstations to the nuclear medicine market. The company has subsidiaries in Europe and Canada.

Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a provider of IT-enabled clinical workflow and diagnostic image management solutions, and systems for capturing and processing images in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

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Agfa HealthCare
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