Dunlee (Booth 4003) is unveiling a new line of tubes for advanced CT applications, as well as an expanded customer application for electronic tutorials on the removal, installation and calibration of CT tubes at the 97th Annual Meeting & Scientific Assembly of the RSNA, Nov. 27 to Dec. 2 in Chicago.

The FDA has given its first green light to a stem-cell transplantation product using umbilical-cord blood. Hemacord, produced by the New York Blood Center, is intended to treat patients with disorders affecting the blood- forming system, such as certain blood cancers and inherited metabolic and immune system disorders.

The large-scale ADAPT-DES registry, which assessed platelet reactivity with a variety of platelet function tests in more than 8,500 patients, reaffirmed that the tests have not found an appropriate place in routine clinical practice. The study was presented Nov. 9 at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

Barco, the healthcare imaging company based in Kortrijk, Belgium, will unveil Nexxis, an uncompressed video-over-IP system for image distribution in the operating room, at the MEDICA trade fair in Dsseldorf, Germany, Nov. 16 19.

The bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Medical Technology Caucus raised concerns over the FDAs medical device approval process in a letter sent to the agency early this month. The legislators suggested that slow approval times for medical devices may lead to the displacement of the U.S. as the leader in developing medical technology. They also stated that the industry indirectly creates two million American jobs.

Healthcare supply contracting company Novation has awarded multisource agreements for MRI equipment to six suppliers.

While CT remains the preferred modality to guide renal radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedures, ultrasound provides a safe and effective method for preselected cases, according to a retrospective study published in the November edition of American Journal of Roentgenology. The authors suggested the protocol could decrease CT utilization and cut radiation exposure when applied in an appropriate patient population.

Computerized decision support systems (CDSS) are believed to reduce healthcare costs while enhancing patient care, but a new research study determined that the implementation of a CDSS to treat patients with type II diabetes was too expensive for the health improvements associated with it.