Mirada Medical's Blog

Caseaccess

In these times of reduced fees for services, radiology providers are looking to implement ways to provide superior service in order to expand their referral base.  In many cases, they are doing this while the number of staff members is being reduced.  Deploying Mirada Medical’s Caseaccess product is one way to achieve this goal. 

Caseaccess allows key images, quantifications, and reports, among other outputs to be accessed by physicians in a timely manner, via a secure portal.  This is all done electronically, so there is no need to burn CDs or drive around town delivering reports.  This frees up staff to perform other duties.  It allows the referring physician to easily show the patient the results of their procedures very shortly after the scans are completed.  By getting the data to the physician in a timely manner, both the imaging department and the referrer can provide a better quality of service to the patient. 

Navigating the world of cancer care can be an overwhelming task.  These patients are ill, scared, and often traveling to medical facilities with which they are unfamiliar.  Many of these patients may see multiple physicians from various disciplines throughout the course of a single day.  Oftentimes, they have traveled a great distance, and their imaging procedures are performed the same day as well.  Using Caseaccess helps to disseminate the results quickly, allows access to the results to all who are playing a part in managing the patient care for the individual, and reduces the amount of stress for the patient. 

Back in the stone ages, technologists actually printed films.  When physicians needed to see them, patients would sign them out and take them to an appointment.  After that, they were returned to the facility to be re-filed.  After years aboard the film carousel, radiology went digital, and CDs became the new “films.”   This was a slight improvement to the system, but still not a very efficient way to operate.  Enter Mirada Medical’s Caseaccess product.  When utilizing this product, everyone wins- radiology providers, referring physicians, and most importantly the patients.  Please check out our Caseaccess product at http://www.mirada-medical.com/Products/Caseaccess/. 

 

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.

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.

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.

ASTRO Meeting 2011 – Miami, Florida

 

This year’s ASTRO meeting was an opportunity for Mirada to showcase our newest product – Mirada RTx and its various workflows to improve patient care.   Wow, was our booth busy!  For the entire three days (with Monday seeming to be the most hectic of the three), we had a constant flow of radiation oncologists, physicists, and dosimetrists from all over the world – Japan, Korea, India, Australia, as well as many European countries, the US, and others.  Many were initially just interested in our deformable fusion capabilities, but often this interest would transition to the software as a whole once they recognized our ability to answer more of their questions beyond just having a validated deformable fusion algorithm.

From the opening on Sunday, we knew that our marketing messages were on target.  People would walk up to our booth, see our marketing messages, and know immediately where we stood in the competitive marketplace.  By the time they left our booth, many of those same people were making statements such as “It is nice to see a company doing something new and innovative for a change!” and “This is exactly the type of software that has been missing in radiation oncology!”  Even some of the individuals who were initially skeptical upon walking into our booth would walk away with words such as, “I am definitely impressed!” and “Wow, I would definitely like a follow-up to find out more!” especially after learning of our special pricing through the end of the year.

Our marketing messages of Deformable Fusion, Adaptive Therapy, Auto Contouring, and Dose Warping and Summation were exactly what people were looking for; and sometimes, more than they ever expected!  By the end of the show, we had conversed with and demonstrated for a much larger number of attendees than we had anticipated, and additionally had met with a handful various OEM groups interested in our deformable fusion and other tools.  Tuesday evening, we were actually busy for another 15 – 20 minutes past the close of the show!  It was exciting to be in an environment where people were truly interested in innovation to enhance patient care and were receptive and enthusiastic about what Mirada could contribute to their ability to improve the quality of care for their patients.  Check out our RT software here .

 

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.

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.

At your service

At Mirada we like to utilize all available resources in supporting our customers.  Advances in technology help us to do this very efficiently.  We frequently use tools like Go to Meeting® and Go to Assist®, as they allow us to provide excellent service to our customers in a cost effective, efficient manner.  We realize how busy our customers are taking care of patients; we want to take care of support issues without disrupting their important work. 

In the not too distant past, vendors carried out all customer training activities either on-site or at training centers.    It is often difficult to coordinate schedules so that all necessary personnel are available for on-site training.  Moreover, it can be disruptive to a busy imaging department.   Now, we are able to provide web-based training for physicians and staff.  In addition, we can provide refresher training, education for individuals who were unable to attend on-site training, and new hire software training at a time that is convenient for them.    When new software is released, we are able to conduct convenient webinars to train our installed base on the new and improved features of the software.   

In addition to training, we can provide installation support, as well as general customer support.  Remote access into a system is beneficial in many circumstances.  For example, we can install and update software, set configurations, perform testing, troubleshoot, and obtain log files – all remotely.  What previously required travel to a site, or emailing information such as screen shots or log files, can now be done more quickly and with less disruption for the customer.

Remote tools enhance our ability to educate, install, and troubleshoot.  They play an integral role in our day to day operations.  The flexibility and improved resolution time help Mirada achieve our goal of “exceeding expectations.”

 

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.

Mirada Medical on Social Media

 

Here at Mirada Medical, we love to talk to our customers online and to anyone else interested in what we are doing. We see ourselves as a transparent company, open to discuss (and implement!) new ideas.

We listen to customers discussing our products on various online channels and we react with product and service improvements. Moreover, we take a proactive approach towards this encounter: during the past 2 years, we opened more than 20 social media accounts where we post information, images, videos, etc. We simply want to keep in touch with our online friends.

So why social media? Because behind the computer screens there are people willing to meet and greet online and because the Mirada team are a bunch of original people. Besides building great products ... we are individuals passionate about many other things, like motorbikes, farming, skating, sailing, music, and much more. We want to meet our customers just the way we are: with our highs and lows, our passion for work and hobbies – and social media seems to be the best place for an authentic contact with people around the world. We are currently conversing with people from Europe, USA, India, Brazil, Turkey, and many other places.

 

We hope to speak to you all very soon – on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Google Places, StumbleUpon, TypePad, Digg, radRounds, Radiolopolis, Iradix, AuntMinnie, Technocrati, SlideShare, Docstoc, Radiology Forums, Dave’s Places In Radiology, MedicExchange, Buzz, Google+1....and more!

 

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.

Hybrid Scanners vs. Software

Over the years it has been very interesting to watch the evolution of hybrid PET/CT scanners become the gold standard in PET imaging.   When I first started in this business almost ten years ago I worked for a mobile PET company whose entire fleet was PET only.   This unfortunately was the company’s downfall, as any new customer required PET/CT.  At the time we tried to patch the outdated fleet with a software solution and some early image registration tools.  Unfortunately, the industry seemed to reject software as a substitute for hybrid imaging.  

Today with PET/MR on the forefront, it will be very interesting to see if software will get a second look as a substitute to an investment into a full PET/MR scanner.  There is no doubt MR can bring so much to the table in the world of PET imaging and top institutions will want to make the investment.  Given these difficult economic times though, the majority of institutions will be unable to afford the investment.  Could high powered computer algorithms and slick display protocols be the answer this time around?   Only time will tell how much this will catch on.   Personally, I think there are so many good arguments for software solutions in this arena this time around.   Let the new PET/MR hybrids blaze the trail for ultimately giving the best information with certain types of cancers, neuro imaging and cardiovascular imaging, but when applicable, let software provide a solution, especially if it is the only solution.

 

About the Author

Greg Janik is the Senior Product Specialist 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 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.

Theories on Jet-lag

Healthcare is a global industry. Mirada Medical has customers in Europe, North America and Asia. It is inevitable that from time to time I need to travel to visit and meet these customers.

Earlier this month I was on a flight from London to Washington, DC, travelling to an industry  conference. I overheard a woman sitting to my left discussing with a travelling companion her theory for avoiding jet-lag. The trick, she said, was to eat at the mealtimes of the destination time zone as early as possible  - in her case, she had ceased UK conventions the previous day, adopting instead the mealtimes of her US destination city.

Frequent fliers will have heard such theories on jet-lag before. “Drink plenty of water” is a popular (and relatively effective)  one. “Force yourself to stay up until normal bedtime” is another. Medicinal use of melatonin is another widely advocated but as yet inconclusively evidenced remedy for jet-lag.  ABC News reported in May 2007 that Viagra might be effective, though the evidence here was based on a study of non-travelling hamsters. And William Gibson (through the character Damien in Pattern Recognition) proposes that jet-lag actually is caused by the inability of the soul to keep up with the plane so when you land in London your soul is still out over the ocean and you just have to wait for it to catch up with you, like an item of lost luggage. There are plenty of theories. 

So here’s mine: don’t get on the plane. All of my own jet-lag inducing air travel is work related. At Mirada we develop state of the art software solutions for today’s problems in clinical diagnostics and treatment management. A part of this is the development of remote reading solutions including server and cloud based image analysis and reporting. We can successfully set up online diagnostics at the most advanced level.  We can fuse PET images with MRI images.  We can develop deformable registration algorithms which leading radiation oncologists agree successfully register the toughest prostate or head & neck MRI images with CT. So why  in 2011 do I need an airplane every time I want to engage with a customer? Sometimes I do, but mostly I do not.

Ubiquitous online meeting tools such as Webex, Gotomeeting or my current favourite TeamViewer allow me to demonstrate Mirada’s advanced multi-modality image analysis capabilities from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world. Mirada’s service & support team are 100% set up to provide any current or prospective customer with full product service, demonstrations and evaluations using web connections and online conferencing tools. And with a with a grateful nod to Skype, I can now enjoy long conversations with customers in far flung places without paying my mobile operator’s punitive $2 per minute charges for making international calls – such charges can make the air ticket the more economic option!

Meeting people face to face is important, fun, and essential to the development of strong relationships. But many trips can be avoided and there are good economic and environmental reasons for doing so. Importantly, there are also very good reasons of personal health and well-being for not getting on that plane like, for example, the avoidance of jet-lag. 

 

About the Author

Hugh Bettesworth is Chief Executive of 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 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

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.