Hitachi Medical Systems America

(Booth 2629) Twinsburg, OH-based Hitachi Medical Systems America plans to highlight new enhancements to its HI Vision 900 and 5500 systems, including elastography and probe-based techniques designed to improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness during image-guided interventional procedures.

The company will showcase E-mode, a real-time tissue elastography technique on the HI Vision 900 system. More than 800 E-mode systems are currently in use, and the value of the technology resides in applications such as thyroid, prostate, musculoskeletal, and liver imaging in addition to the accepted breast imaging uses. A strain ratio tool permits quantification of differences in stiffness between a mass and the normal tissue that surrounds it.

A new version 6 upgrade package to the HI Vision 5500 scanner provides advanced capabilities that were previously available only on the company's premium scanners. The free upgrade is available to all Hitachi warranty and contract service customers.

Finally, Hitachi will showcase interventional transducers and a microconvex probe to facilitate intercostal biopsies.