Mirada Medical's Blog

Casemeeting- Revolutionizing Tumor Board

Mirada Medical released its tumor board product, Casemeeting, in Q4 of 2011.  In the past, there has been no good solution to preparing and presenting cases at Tumor Board meetings.    Casemeeting is filling this gap.  Casemeeting is a server-based solution and fully integrated with XD3, Mirada’s flagship PET/CT reading platform.   Multiple tumor board meetings are set up within the application and patient images are sent to the appropriate meeting.  Key images that are saved during the reading session are automatically converted into presentation slides in the Casemeeting software.  Preparation for the conferences is made simple by providing an intuitive drag and drop process for ordering the slides.  In addition, text slides, pathology slides and other slides may be added manually if desired.  During presentation at multi-specialty conferences, the key images are shown as presentation slides and when image manipulation is necessary, the full DICOM volumes and full set of image manipulation tools provided by XD3 can be accessed with a single click from within Casemeeting.

How has Casemeeting changed tumor board preparation and presentation?  According to one of our early adopters:   "In our high volume, academic PET/CT practice, Casemeeting has already become indispensable. Patients come from around the world to our Myeloma Institute so numbers of cases in that weekly conference average around 50. CaseMeeting has not only significantly shortened prep time, but has also improved our contribution to patient care.  With its ready access to each full data set, we can find answers to questions ‘on the fly’.” 

I was lucky enough to be involved with the beta testing for this exciting project. Initially, I was on site to set up Casemeeting and train the physicians.  After the initial setup, I worked as a liason between the site and our engineering and science teams.  This involved getting valuable feedback regarding product functionality and future development.  They liked the project so much, they decided to purchase the commercially released version.  This project has been very fulfilling.  To be a part of something that is improving patient care the way Casemeeting will, is why I chose to be a health care professional.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Miller is the US Support Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd.  Jenn is a registered nuclear medicine technologist with 8 years of clinical experience in various settings, and 7 years of industry experience.

 About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

Multidisciplinary Medicine

What is multidisciplinary medicine?  It is the collaboration of various specialists to use collective knowledge and expertise to determine the best plan of treatment for each patient, usually cancer patients.  Some of you may be aware of or participate in tumor boards or other multidisciplinary conferences.  Some tumor boards are broad and cover patients with various types of cancer; while others are more specific, addressing patients with specific forms of cancer.  Common attendees are Radiologists, Radiation Oncologists, Medical Oncologists, Surgeons, Organ Specialists, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Pathologists, and Coordinators.  One critical component to these important conferences is the ability to show medical images efficiently. 

The multidisciplinary approach to cancer care is crucial for the following reasons:

• Rapid advances in specialization
• Increasing complexity of cancer care
• It addresses  diagnosis, initial staging, treatment, and palliation
• Having all the “players” at the table helps to best treat the patient, as each patient is different, as is each tumor; it also allows for knowledge of newest procedures and clinical trials
• Allows tracking for trials and statistics

Some of the challenges facing multidisciplinary medicine are:

• Outside Images- it is painful and sometimes impossible to get the data
• Need for patient history to be available along with the images
• IT infrastructure
• Need for an effective data and image exchange
• Need data management tools to support an RT workflow

If you find yourself facing any of these issues, Mirada has solutions.  Check us out at Mirada-medical.com, and keep an eye out for our blog on our Casemeeting product.  Better yet, drop by our booth (8722) at the RSNA to check out how we can improve your workflow and address challenges you currently face with multidisciplinary medicine. 

 

About the Author

Jennifer Miller is the US Support Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd.  Jenn is a registered nuclear medicine technologist with 8 years of clinical experience in various settings, and 7 years of industry experience.

 About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

US Medical Imaging Market Overview

 

A 21-year analysis by the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) found that medical devices made up a relatively small share of US health expenditures, representing only 5.9% in 2009 (1).

 The medical imaging market experienced growth from 2004, with the rapid adoption of new technologies like PET/CT hybrid scanners, up until 2006. Negative growth was recorded during 2006/2007, when unit shipments declined drastically due to reimbursement cuts enforced by DRA (Deficit Reduction Act) (2). The market stabilised in 2008 with positive growth until 2010 (3) due to reimbursement cuts stabilisation and FDG coverage expansion. Positive growth is projected onward until 2014 (2).

 In 2009, CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) expanded FDG PET coverage for initial treatment of 25 new cancer types. This decision more than triples the number of cancer types previously covered (4). PET/CT represents the highest reimbursing imaging modality and the fastest growing modality with a projected 10-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%. Although CT and MRI experienced double digit annual growth rate over the past decade, the Health Care Advisory Board expects only PET/CT to maintain its double-digit growth over the next decade (5).

 The medical imaging market has also been slowed down by the recent global economical recession. In a metaphorical style, Frost & Sullivan referred to the medical imaging market as a ‘rising phoenix‘, expected to recover starting 2010 despite the setback due to economic depression and the significant decline in reimbursement. The drivers behind this reformation would be advancements in technology and new clinical applications for imaging modalities (6).

 In March 2010, President Obama signed new healthcare law. In September 2010, a number of important provisions took effect, with broader changes to come in 2014 (7). Radiology specialists claim the healthcare reform will enforce new payment models and reimbursement cuts which will hit the market again similarly to DRA in 2005 (8).

 A 2010 study on top trends in medical imaging (9) concluded that ‘budgets are tight, reimbursement is shrinking, competition is fierce and the need to deliver more, faster is endemic’. However, increased R&D investment in hybrid modalities and add-on technologies (including software applications) continues to drive market forward (2). 

 

1. Health Imaging (2011) Medical devices are small part of total healthcare expenditures. http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=28670:medical-devices-are-small-part-of-total-healthcare-expenditures
2. Frost & Sullivan (2008) U.S. and PET-CT Imaging Equipment Markets, N436-50. http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/report-toc.pag?repid=N436-01-00-00-00
3. Health Imaging (2011) Report: PET utilization nudges up. http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=28901:report-pet-utilization-nudges-up
4. Ivy Ventures (2009) PET/CT market grows with CMS decision to expand coverage for cancer patients. http://www.ivyventures.com/documents/PETCTCoverageExpansion.pdf
   
5.  Health Care Advisory Board, Innovation Center (2008) Radiology. Future of Diagnostic Imaging. http://www.advisory.com/Research/Health-Care-Advisory-Board/Studies/2008/~/media/Advisory-com/Research/HCAB/Research-Study/2008/Future-of-Diagnostic-Imaging/Future-of-Diagnostic-Imaging-HCAB.pdf
6. Frost & Sullivan (2010) Medical imaging Industry 2010 – A phoenix rising?. http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=189150885
7. The New York Times (2011) Health Care Reform. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html
8. RSNA (2010) Healthcare reform deals new blow with reimbursement cuts. http://www.rsna.org/Publications/rsnanews/July-2010/healthcare_reform_feature.cfm
9. Health Imaging (2010) 2010 Top Trends in Health Imaging & IT: The Refining of Radiology. http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=24072:2010-top-trends-in-health-imaging-a-it-the-refining-of-radiology

 About the Author

Simona  Maria Nita is the Digital Marketing Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd. Simona has over 10 years of professional experience and a strong academic background in Marketing.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

New range of software and study at ASTRO 2011

Mirada will be showcasing a new range of software planning tools at ASTRO 2011 (Booth #1257) that incorporate its fusion technologies to support: dose warping, dose summation, atlas based auto-contouring, deformable fusion of multi-sequence MR, PET and SPECT and single click contour warping to support adaptive re-planning.

Dr. Mark Gooding, senior scientist at Mirada Medical, will present a study and poster on deformable CT-MR registration (#3262) at ASTRO. The study was chosen from a record breaking 2,437 abstracts submitted for review to be presented. ASTRO is the largest gathering of radiation oncology specialists in the world.

The study, titled “Assessing the quality of deformable CT-MR registration for the purpose of multi-modal radiotherapy planning,” examines the performance of Mirada’s multi-modal deformable registration algorithm for the fusion of head and neck, prostate and cervical diagnostic MR scans to CT planning volumes. Performance was assessed by experts in radiation oncology from four independent clinical institutions and quantitative errors were also measured using landmarks. In all cases, deformable registration significantly improved the alignment between MR and planning CT, approximately halving the registration error compared to conventional rigid alignment. The clinical experts’ assessment concluded that the results required minimal intervention prior to use in multi-modal contouring.

 

About the Author

Simona Nita is the Digital Marketing Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd. Simona has over 10 years of professional experience and a strong academic background in the field of Marketing.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

Workflow

Workflow is a word that comes up in every discussion regarding medical software.  We are often asked questions like:  how will this fit into my workflow and how will this improve my workflow.  At Mirada Medical, we do not provide software solutions, but workflow solutions. 

What challenges do hospitals and medical practices face?  They are being pressed to do more in less time.  They want a solution that will help them read more efficiently.  Many need to be able to read from remote locations.  Some do not have room for any more computer towers or monitors in their reading room and need an integrated solution.  Others work closely with Radiation Therapy and need to provide them with critical information regarding patients’ treatments.  Many attend tumor boards and find preparation for this tedious.  They also need to share their results with the referring physicians. 

These needs play a significant role when looking to purchase new software.  At Mirada, we not only provide software solutions, but workflow solutions.  Sometimes the software itself is the solution.  XD provides the physicians an efficient way to interpret both single and multi time point exams.  CDs with a robust DICOM viewer can be burned to share the study with the referring physician.   In addition, it allows the radiologists to provide the Radiation Therapy Department with additional information for patient treatment.  Our Casemeeting software provides an efficient, robust platform for Tumor Board preparation and presentation. 

Sometimes, the deployment option is the workflow solution the customer needs.  Many desire fewer workstations, so integration on PACS and Advanced Visualization platforms is an option.  For those that need to read from various locations, we offer both thin client and floating license options. 

So, if you are in the market for a Workflow Solution, or want to learn more about our product line, check us out @ www.Mirada-medical.com.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Miller is the US Support Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd.  Jenn is a registered nuclear medicine technologist with 8 years of clinical experience in various settings, and 7 years of industry experience.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

Virtual Vs. Traditional Tradeshows

Technical exhibits are an important forum for companies such as ours in the medical imaging community, to showcase our latest products and discuss technology trends with industry professionals. The Mirada Medical team demonstrates a suite of oncology imaging solutions at leading medical imaging conferences throughout the world.

A recent development in the tradeshow industry is the introduction of virtual conferences. Market Research Media predicts that the virtual conference and trade show market will show an annual growth rate of 56% until 2015. Perhaps you have already attended such a conference with companies such as Aunt Minnie and Medic Exchange? Virtual conferences provide an alternative platform for attending keynote sessions, lectures and technical demonstrations. With a recent surge of development in virtual-meeting software, a typical virtual conference will contain many similar features to a traditional tradeshow, including areas such as the auditorium and exhibit hall.  Attendees can navigate around this virtual conference at the click of a button.

There are substantial advantages for both attendees and exhibitors attending virtual conferences. In particular, the convenience of being able to attend talks and exhibits straight from your computer will save time and money for busy industry professionals. With first time attendees registering and providing contact details, lead collection for exhibitors is simple and efficient.  As Mirada products such as XD3 are software only computer based devices, giving demonstrations across a virtual booth is very straightforward. An infinite number of attendees are able to view a demonstration simultaneously, with no limitations presented by the physical boundaries of a traditional booth.

There are of course aspects of traditional tradeshows that cannot be replicated in a virtual environment; our exhibitors would refer to this as the tradeshow ‘Buzz’. The hype, which is generated from a gathering of industry professionals discussing new technology trends, cannot be replicated to the same degree in a virtual format. That said, it seems that there is place for both types of conference in the medical imaging industry. I sincerely hope that the tradeshow industry does not resolve to an ‘either-or’ opinion for traditional and virtual events, as both formats provide useful platforms for industry professionals and companies alike.

 

About the Author

Faye Murray is the Customer Relations Executive at Mirada Medical Ltd.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which areused across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

Mirada Medical at SNM 2011, San Antonio, Texas

The annual Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting took place this past weekend in San Antonio, Texas.  This meeting brings together nuclear medicine and molecular imaging professionals from around the world so as to keep them up to date on the latest imaging and therapy methods, as well as to allow for them to observe and test new products and technologies.  

As I looked forward to the upcoming SNM meeting, I became even more excited about this opportunity to share with the rest of the imaging world what we at Mirada Medical have been designing. In particular, our products to assist reading physicians by providing them even more useful and innovative tools with which to interpret their studies AND to assist these same physicians in presenting these studies to their colleagues at tumor board meetings in a much more efficient, robust, and collaborative format.  This excitement was further fueled by my observation on the SNM’s own website, an image from last year’s meeting having Mirada’s booth in the right forefront.

 

SNM 2010 photo, Mirada Medical booth in right forefront (from SNM 2011 meeting website)

We were really pleased with the number of visitors we received, especially during lunch hours and breaks between sessions.  We could barely cope. We kept half an eye on our competitors’ booths, and I was pleased that by Tuesday I could count a noticeable difference in the constant activity in our booth when compared to others.

 Visitors to the Mirada booth were on the whole very impressed with the fusion capabilities of our new XD3.4 version of software. Allowing both gated CT and PET data to display multiple time points while still maintaining the ability to observe the gating motion while slicing through the data in real time AND having the ability to re-orient the data while the gates are still being observed.  Still others were very interested in the ability to register unlimited time points, but even more so, to have this function perform automatically – both with rigid and deformable fusion.   All of our visitors also liked the simple usability and configurability of our software, even one person who is currently a staunch supporter and long-time user of our main competitor’s software.  This person left our booth commenting to a colleague on some of the major advantages of our system. PERCIST was another topic of interest for some of our research and luminary visitors, since there are not many options out there for clinicians and researchers to utilize this fairly new technique. 

Of all of our products however, Casemeeting definitely was the star of the show.  We received  great comments and praise from booth visitors, with many luminary sites showing interest in Casemeeting – knowing how much time this product could potentially save them in case preparation, as well as how much it has the potential to greatly impact the efficiency of the workflow of the tumor board process itself.

From the Saturday evening opening reception through the conference close for exhibitors at 5pm on Tuesday, Mirada Medical exhibited just inside the main doors of the exhibition hall at booth #4027.  Eleven of Mirada Medical’s staff were on hand to demonstrate the XD3 software, Casemeeting, and Caseaccess.  We were very pleased with our booth’s activity during this SNM meeting.

 

About the Author

Doug Philip is a registered radiography, nuclear medicine, and PET technologist currently working as a Product Specialist at Mirada Medical Inc.  He has six years of experience as a nuclear medicine and PET technologist in a university hospital and research environment and eight years of experience in the medical device industry.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.

It’s all about the patient.

Developing world class medical imaging software is what we do.  Always bearing in mind the actual reason we exist is who we are.

From our research and development teams to the product marketing initiatives that promote our software, we never lose sight of our true ‘customer’- the patient.   Each member of our sales and support teams also possesses the same passion for providing products that benefit cancer patients.  We focus on delivering software that meets the needs of each clinician we serve including radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists.  Our goal is to provide these specialists with the best tools for providing excellent patient care.

Each of these physicians relies on medical images for their contribution to a patient’s care.  Radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians make the diagnosis or assist in staging disease; medical oncologists assess response to therapy and plan for treatment.  Radiation oncologists need as much information as possible to accurately define areas targeted for radiation treatment and areas to avoid.  Our flagship product XD3 provides these tools.

These specialists also come together for multidisciplinary conferences for a collaborative approach to managing cancer.  We have recognized that there is a need for simplifying what can be a painful process in preparing for and presenting images at these important conferences.  Casemeeting is our solution for tumor board.  This product is all about the patient.

Referring physicians require a convenient solution to access images and reports for their patients.  We developed Caseaccess with this requirement in mind. 

As we prepare our booth and our messaging for the upcoming annual Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting, rest assured that each Mirada team member knows that although we sell our products to hospitals, imaging centers and physicians, our real customers are the patients.  In fact, it truly is all about the patient.

 

About the Author 

Mary Beth Archibald is the Executive Vice President of US Service and Operations within Mirada Medical Inc.

About Mirada Medical

Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.

 

The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited

Developments in medical imaging software

Medical imaging dates all the way back to Ancient Greece, when the physician Hippocrates started identifying and treating cancerous tumours, which he thought resembled crabs, or "karkinos". [Hence the terms “carcinos” and “carcinoma” came to be used to describe cancerous tumours.]

Recent technological advances

Oncology imaging has moved on a great deal since the days of Hippocrates, and with the help of 21st Century medical imaging technology, we are able to examine what is happening inside the human body in great detail.

The last decade has been particularly significant for developments in oncology imaging technology. 

The first National Cancer Institute (NCI) Industry Forum and Workshop on Biomedical Imaging in Oncology took place in September 1999 in the US. Delegates, which included government and industry representatives as well as medical experts, were invited to respond to the rapid pace of innovation, discovery, and new developments in imaging technology as well as cancer research.

In the intervening years, there have been rapid advances particularly in web-based oncology imaging applications.

Caseaccess

Mirada Medical’s scientists and engineers (based in Oxford, UK) have created a web-based medical image viewing product called Caseaccess. This product is at the forefront of advanced medical imaging technology, and offers a suite of benefits including:

• Secure access to online portal from any web enabled computer

• Powerful, industry leading viewing platform

• Rapid data sharing with referrer and patient

• Can be used regardless of equipment used to acquire or process data

As well as Caseaccess, Mirada Medical offers a whole range of medical imaging software solutions that provide highly detailed analyses to assist clinicians working with the fields of diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology and medical oncology. Please contact us  if you would like to speak with a member of our team.

What are PET-CT scans?

A PET-CT scan uses acronyms for much longer terms: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computerized Tomography (CT). They are both imaging tools that are used in hospitals throughout the world to help doctors locate cancerous cells and tumors in the body, in order toenable better and more accurate diagnosis. Each scan brings something to the process - the PET scan detects the metabolic signal of any growing cancer cells and the CT scan provides a very detailed image of the inside of the body which helps provide information about the location and quantity of any cancerous tumors. Used together these two scans are extremely powerful in terms of providing medical data and provide much information about the severity of any cancerous activity. This is the reason they are usually carried out at the same time. These scans use non-surgical processes and take very little time to carry out. They can be carried out on an outpatient basis and are completely painless tests

A PET scan is a type of nuclear medicine imaging and is carried out by exposing the body to some radioactive material. This is usually administered via an injection into the vein, a pill of some type or inhaled as a gas. The amount the body is exposed to is very small so there are no long term side effects. The radioactive material accumulates in the area of the body that is being investigated and by doing so, energy (gamma) rays are given off. These rays are picked up by a special probe and scanner. Working together, the probe and the scanner can detect how much of the radioactive material has been absorbed by the body and turn this into an image that provides intricate details of the structure and function of the organs, cells and tissue in that particular area.

Image fusion or co-registration refers to the practice of superimposing these images with the images produced by a computerized topography scan (CT scan) or even with a magnetic resonance image (MRI scan). By correlating images in this way even more accurate and more precise information can be gleaned which makes for better diagnosing of patients.

Whilst a PET scan is useful for measuring functions such as blood flow, oxygen use and a person’s glucose metabolism in order to see how particular organs are working, a CT scan is useful for providing internal images with anatomic information. When combined in the way described above doctors have access to a wealth of information that enables them to "see" exactly what is wrong with a person and how serious the condition is. When used together these two scans (or modalities) create synergy - they can provide much more detailed information and prove to be far more valuable than when used separately.

PET-CT scans are in particular used to detect cancer in the body. Not only can tumors be found but the rate of growth of cancerous cells and the extent to which they have spread can be seen. These types of scan can be given at regular intervals throughout the treatment of cancer to see how effective it has been and if the cancer is returning or being kept at bay. Aside from oncology, these scans are also useful for determining blood flow to the heart and assessing the damage after a heart attack to see what treatment or surgery would be appropriate. PET-CT scans are also useful for mapping brain function and detecting abnormalities such as tumors, disorders and problems with the nervous system.

The medical world benefits greatly from the use of pet-ct scans in their methods for diagnosis. Medical image processing is a powerful tool in the fight against many serious illnesses and disorders, but when used together in particular a PET scan and CT scan provide a wealth of information. It works particularly well with oncology software, enabling cancerous growth to be detected and monitored continuously.

Kathryn Dawson writes articles for Mirada Medical Limited, bringing you advanced software for fusing images from pet-ct scans. Their registration software aligns PET scan images as well as CT scan images. Mirada’s application for medical image processing offers comprehensive analysis for diagnosis, staging, treatment planning, assessment and response in oncology. Find out how XD3 is among the most advanced oncology software in use today.