Agfa HealthCare demonstrates Nuclear Cardiology solution at ACC 2007

Agfa HealthCare announces today it is showcasing its Agfa HealthCare Nuclear Cardiology solution at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2007 exhibition. The solution is part of the comprehensive Agfa HealthCare Cardiovascular offering, delivering convenient, multimodality image reviews and quantitative analysis for nuclear cardiology and cardiology departments. The solution provides a single point of access to multiple image modalities to enhance cardiac patient care. Displayed on the company’s dual monitor Cardiovascular Review Station, a comprehensive view of patient exams is readily available to cardiologists.


Underscoring Agfa HealthCare’s sustained commitment to provide optimized solutions for healthcare delivery; the design is based on recommended best practices for integrated image review and report generation. The Nuclear Cardiology report module fully incorporates the standards established by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories (ICANL).


“The Agfa HealthCare Nuclear Cardiology solution delivers an easy-to-use vehicle for creating a thorough, comprehensive report that meets the national standards established by the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. I believe this to be a very solid approach to facilitating best practices in nuclear medicine,” said Gary V. Heller, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, Director, Nuclear Cardiology,HartfordHospital,Hartford,CT. “Rather than creating applications for each individual lab, the company has chosen to focus on the national standards. I commend their visionary commitment to standards-based, easy-to-use management of patient information. By taking the highroad, Agfa HealthCare improves communication among healthcare providers. This solution will actually help make some labs practice better medicine, by providing a means of adopting accreditation standards as recommended by the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories. I am pleased that the company has taken this patient-centric approach.”


Drawing on the company’s deep experience in DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) standards, the Nuclear Cardiology module provides the means to manage DICOM and other image information through a Numa translator and into a single database for easy viewing and interpretation. The dual monitor Review Station is a user-friendly interface to review and score the image while sitting at one location.


To meet the sophisticated requirements of nuclear cardiology documentation, the solution offers interactive 17-segment perfusion and wall motion diagrams for dynamic sentence generation. Interpretation of perfusion and wall motion abnormalities is aided by the solution’s unique clinical algorithms that generate findings in easily understood, compound sentences.


“The Results Management module of our Nuclear Cardiology solution exemplifies Agfa HealthCare’s approach to clinical reporting and data management,” said Paul Varghese, MD, Medical Director, Agfa Healthcare Cardiovascular Solutions. “We seek out the input of respected clinical sources, such as Dr. Heller, and adhere to clinical standards from such bodies as ICANL and IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise). As with our entire reporting product suite, Results Management for Nuclear Cardiology provides the benefits of structured reporting. Ultimately, customers reap the benefits by leveraging the clinical data accumulated for a range of uses, such as accounting, quality measures, and clinical research.”