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Mercury Computer Systems (Chelmsford, MA; www.mc.com), which designs hardware and software for data-intensive applications, has created an independent subsidiary that will focus on digital imaging products for medical and life science businesses. Known as Visage Imaging (Carlsbad, CA; www.visageimaging.com), the subsidiary will develop custom software for medical imaging work-flow management. Among Visage’s first offerings will be an end-to-end image management and distribution line along with a multifaceted software framework that enables users to visualize, manipulate, and analyze complex data sets.
Mercury Computer Systems’s involvement in the medical sector is not new, however. “We got involved in the medical field in 1986 when we began working on data reconstruction for nuclear medicine and MRI,” notes Visage Imaging president Marcelo Lima, who previously worked for Mercury Computer Systems. “A few years ago, we had the idea to integrate all of the various imaging modalities using PACS,” he adds. The firm’s software now allows multiple modalities to be viewed by anyone who is authorized to see images on the network, without any special software.
Visage Imaging will draw on a variety of other technologies from its parent company. For instance, the firm is using microscopy and rendering technology from its parent to generate realistic 3-D medical images. Mercury Computer Systems’s experience working with large data sets has also been helpful for applications such as 64-slice angiography. “In less than a minute, we can get really good 4-D images of the heart with that technology,” Lima explains.
He is optimistic about the field of medical digital imaging, which continues to be an area of rapid advances. “This wave of radiology technology will have a big impact on medicine,” he says. “Advanced visualization will change not only radiology, but other medical fields as well.”
