The two companies have inked a definitive agreement for Cardinal Health to purchase Syncor for approximately $1.1 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Syncor would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal Health.

Under the proposed transaction, Syncor shareholders would receive 0.52 Cardinal Health common shares for each outstanding share of Syncor common stock. Cardinal Health plans to issue a total of approximately 14 million common shares.

In addition, Cardinal Health will assume Syncor’s debt, which totaled $202 million, as of March 31.

Plans are to complete the acquisition by the end of this year. Cardinal Health also expects the addition of Syncor to add to its earnings within the first year.

Cardinal Health companies develop, manufacture, package and market products for patient care; develop drug-delivery technologies; distribute pharmaceuticals, medical, surgical and laboratory supplies; and offer consulting and other services to the healthcare providers.

Syncor was founded in 1974. The company compounds and dispenses radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic and therapeutic use for oncology and nuclear medicine applications, such as cardiac and organ imaging.

Double-digit growth among all its business units powered Syncor to a 23 percent gain in net sales in 2001. Net sales increased to $774.7 million, compared with $629.4 million in 2000. Net income advanced to $37.9 million last year, compared with $29.5 million in 2000.

“With Syncor, we will have a strong core nuclear pharmacy service we can offer our provider customers and also an attractive commercialization and logistics solution for manufacturers of complex pharmaceuticals,” noted Robert D. Walter, chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Health, in a prepared statement. “This combination expands Cardinal Health’s breadth of offerings, including our complementary Central Pharmacy Services business, and provides another opportunity to introduce our products and services to new customers and more effectively deliver value to healthcare providers.”

Cardinal Health employs more than 49,000 people on five continents and has annual revenues of more than $40 billion.

Cardinal Health closed its third fiscal quarter on March 31. For the nine-month period, the company posted operating revenues of $32.6 billion, a gain of 15 percent over $28.4 billion in the same period of FY01. Net income for the nine-month period increased to $759 million.

The art work and slogan are just the tip of the iceberg, as the organization deals with issues, such as recruiting more nuclear medicine technologists, educating healthcare providers about positron emission tomography (PET) and monitoring governmental affairs.

The new logo debuted at SNM’s 49th annual meeting in Los Angeles in June. Its reference to molecular imaging “recognizes the role SNM plans in this evolving field,” said Alan Maurer, M.D., outgoing SNM president and director of nuclear medicine at Temple University (Philadelphia).

SNM leadership did consider new names for the organization, but chose not to make any changes, preferring to main the status quo as the society’s raison d’être evolves.

One of the initiatives has been to make the society “more inclusive,” he added. SNM initiated an outreach program to radiologists, promoting nuclear medicine as a potential career option, driven, in part, by the still-burgeoning popularity of positron emission tomography (PET) into more medical imaging applications.

To help promote PET among healthcare providers, the organization created the SNM Learning Center for PET in Reston, with educational contributions from more than 20 medical faculty members from around the United States.

The Learning Center has both a physician and technologist section, with intensive, specialized classes. Enrollment is limited to a maximum of 15 healthcare providers in each session.

The need to recruit more nuclear medicine technologists comes as the medical imaging industry continues to face a “serious manpower shortage,” said Mickey Clarke, president of SNM’s Technologist Section and the division administrator for the division of nuclear medicine at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (St. Louis). She cited an American Hospital Association (AHA of Chicago) survey that estimates medical imaging vacancies at 15 percent, ahead of both pharmacists (12 percent) and nurses (11 percent).

“The answer to the shortage is to make the profession more attractive,” Clarke added, with one solution being higher salaries.

Reimbursement success
PET reimbursement will continue to be an issue as long as advocates gather data to substantiate their claims of PET’s worth in more and more medical imaging applications.

Maurer did express disappointment over the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS of Baltimore, Md.) decision not to establish a Medicare reimbursement policy for PET imaging with the radiotracer FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) as a tool for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease.

Maurer cited two indications currently before the CMS, which may receive reimbursement approval soon — thyroid cancer and carcinoma.

Henry D. Royal, M.D. vice president-elect of SNM and professor of radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, Mo.), added the society would like to see broader CMS reimbursement approval for PET with more cancer indications, asserting that PET already has proven its worth in this area.

At the end of the annual meeting, Maurer turned over the reins to incoming SNM President Michael Gelfand, M.D. Gelfand also serves as chief of the nuclear medicine section at Children’s Hospital (Cincinnati).

With PET still on its ascent, Gelfand said SNM will be the place where scientists and clinicians can get that information and training.

He reiterated the issue of reimbursement by both CMS and private insurers for PET procedures using FDG, as well as other radiotracers currently under development. Gelfand advocated the advance and eventual approval of new radiotracers currently “in the pipeline” without bureaucratic roadblocks.

“Medical advances must get to the public with care, but they must get to the public,” Gelfand said

Research results
The influence of positron emission tomography (PET) continues to grow, as more research employed the medical imaging technique to uncover more information about the human body.

In research conducted at the Technische Universitat Munchen (Munich), PET proved an effective predictor of the success of chemotherapy in patients with stomach (gastric) cancer.

Researchers used PET imaging on 35 patients in the study. PET accurately predicted the success of chemotherapy in eight of nine patients who responded to therapy and in 21 of 26 patients who did not respond.

The team concluded that PET promises to provide the first reliable pre-

dictor of preoperative chemotherapy response in patients with gastric cancer, offering outcomes advantages in treatment options and cost savings for ineffective therapies.

PET also may be a more accurate prognosticator for patients with brain cancer than traditional pathological grading.

A team of researchers from Wallace-Kettering Neurosciences Institute (Kettering, Ohio) found that 94 percent of patients with primary gliomas who showed low FDG uptake on PET lived for more than one year, while 19 percent of the low uptake group survived for more than five years. The report also found that only 29 percent of patients with high FDG uptake lived for more than one year, while none survived more than five years.

The variable of “uptake” in FDG is key, because when FDG is injected into a patient, it is absorbed more rapidly by a tumor than healthy tissue. The uptake helps physicians to determine the extent of the tumor and often with functional relationships with surrounding vessels, structures and tissues.

In cases of osteosarcoma — a form of bone cancer that often affects children — PET could predict outcomes and potentially change the course of therapy. Again, researchers relied on FDG uptake as the key indicator.

The study, conducted at the University of Munster (Germany), surveyed 29 osteosarcoma patients, who ranged in age from five to 41 years. The patients also had received chemotherapy and surgery of their primary tumor sites. During the median 28-month follow-up, researchers found that the higher the initial uptake of FDG in the tumor, the poorer was the prognosis.

Exhibitor review
The positron emission tomography (PET) bandwagon is picking up momentum and more vendors are hopping aboard to offer more services to help healthcare providers and potential entrepreneurs enter the nuclear medicine market.

CTI Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.) is now CTI Molecular Imaging Inc. The company unveiled its new name and logo at SNM 2002, as the company transforms itself from the silent PET equipment supplier it was two years ago to a more visible market presence.

CTI launched its new ECAT Emerge PET scanner with the faster-scanning LSO (lutetium oxyortho-silicate) detector technology. CTI is positioning the Emerge to sell at a lower price point — less than $1 million — than its higher-end ECAT Exact PET scanner, which also features LSO technology.

Emerge will be part of CTI’s new QuickStart program, which will offer a variety of products and services to healthcare providers looking to initiate PET service at their respective facilities. QuickStart offerings will include radiopharmaceuticals, technologist training, service, site planning and financing.

“A main component of the QuickStart program is a fee-per-scan financing option,” added Ken Manning, CTI’s director of marketing. “All the products and services are bundled into that fee.”

ECAT Emerge also will be available through Siemens Medical Solutions Inc. (Iselin, N.J.) and Hitachi Medical Systems America Inc. (Twinsburg, Ohio). Siemens will keep the Emerge brand name, while Hitachi will market the system as the Sceptre.

Only CTI will offer the QuickStart program.

CTI also showcased its PET-CT scanner the ECAT Reveal-RT (rapid throughput) with LSO technology. Reveal-RT allows for routine whole-body studies in 16 minutes and has a selling point of approximately $2.4 million.

CTI in June completed its first installation of the ECAT Reveal-RT at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center.

CTI’s PET-CT portfolio includes the Reveal-HD (high definition) with BGO (bismuth germanate) detector crystals.

Even with the early success of LSO technology to reduce scanning time, CTI has no plans to phase out BGO-based detectors.

“As the non-hospital market continues to evolve and becomes more interested in PET, they will be looking for lower price points,” Manning said. “Typically, those sites might not need to do 15 exams per day.”

Hitachi returns to the PET market with the Sceptre, designed and manufactured by CTI’s CPS Innovations (Knoxville) business unit.

The Sceptre includes a new Avia PET imaging workstation with Fusion 7D software from Mirada Solutions Ltd. (Oxford, United Kingdom) for image fusion and temporal imaging assessment of PET, CT and/or MRI images. Fusion 7D recently received FDA 510(k) clearance.

GE Medical Systems (GEMS of Waukesha, Wis.) introduced a new turnkey radiopharmacy program for both research and FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) distributors.

TRACERcenter will offer products, such as GEMS’ PETtrace and MINItrace cyclotrons; TRACERLab series of chemistry synthesis products; quality control, dispensing, radiation protection and monitoring equipment; education and training programs; and laboratory accessories and supplies.

The foundation of TRACERcenter is GEMS’ February acquisition of Nuclear Interface (Munster, Germany).

The first participants of the TRACERcenter program will come from United Pharmacy Partners Inc. (UPPI of Wilmette, Ill.). GEMS inked a three-year pact to become UPPI’s primary provider of PET and associated PET radiopharmacy technologies and services. UPPI has 52 independent radiopharmacies across the United States.

“I think what you are seeing today is PET becoming more of a commercial market,” said Eric Roman, GEMS’ general manager of global radiopharmacy. “It is maturing; it is growing. You have financial type people coming into play who want to sell FDG. Why? Because they can get a financial return.”

GEMS also is continuing its collaboration with Amersham Health (Princeton, N.J.) to develop new PET-based molecular medical imaging technologies and systems. The first project involves the development of a PET synthesis system that will produce a new generation of targeted molecular radiopharmaceuticals.

“We realize there is a future beyond FDG,” said Roman. “We are actively involved with those people involved in developing new tracers, new drugs and the combination of those that will be done in research and ultimately in clinical applications.”

Mallinckrodt (St. Louis) launched its new Monoject safety syringe, a system designed to improve protection for nuclear medicine technologists against needlesticks, without increasing the risks of radiological exposure.

The Monoject fits into standard injection and syringe shields and prohibits radiation leakage. It also does not require the technologist to remove the syringe from the injection shield. The majority of needlesticks occur from the point of injection to the point of disposal; 20 percent occur going into the container.

Monoject has received FDA 510(k) clearance and conforms with all standards of the Needlestick Protection Act. Mallinckrodt plans to have the safety syringe on the market by this fall.

Research Systems Inc. (RSI of Boulder, Colo.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, N.Y.), released its new Watsyn medical imaging software at SNM 2002.

The fully integrated implementation platform for medical application development and deployment targets the mainstream medical industry. Watsyn software is designed to allow developers to reduce the time-to-market for medical applications, extend the value of existing clinical workstations, and integrate users’ applications into a common platform.

Siemens Medical Solutions (Iselin, N.J.) unveiled its new e.cam Signature Series for enhanced SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging in June at the annual meeting.

Signature Series’ features include new HD4 High-Performance digital detectors for enhanced count rate performance and image quality. An integrated audio-visual screen, similar to a TV monitor, is mounted for the patient to view for information on his or her procedure or general viewing. Dubbed e.media, the feature also targets pediatric patients.

“People are nervous about their procedures and nuclear medicine is about lack of movement,” said Barbara D. Franciose, president of Siemens’ Nuclear Medicine group (Hoffman Estates, Ill.). “We have some 30- or 40-minute studies. If we can keep patients entertained and relaxed, it will make a difference.”

Siemens also displayed Flash 3D technology on the Signature Series as a works-in-progress. The 3D beam modeling and iterative reconstruction technology is designed to improve image quality, contrast resolution and lesion detection.

There are six different configurations within the Signature series, including dual-head to single-head models.

Siemens also provided updates on its biograph PET-CT system with LSO-based (lutetium oxyorthosilicate) detector technology to reduce whole-body scanning time. The system is FDA-cleared and has performed whole-body scans in as little as 15 minutes in procedures at Hong Kong Baptist Hospital. The hospital also has reported scanning times of 12 minutes after additional protocol optimization.

Siemens also offers the biograph PET-CT system with bismuth germanate (BSO) detector technology. Scanning times with BGO average 30 minutes.

Depending on configuration, the selling price of the LSO-based biograph ranges between $1.9 and $2.2 million.

Siemens also offers LSO detector technology in its Accel PET scanner. The system is installed in approximately 60 locations.

On the PET-CT side, Philips Medical Systems (Bothell, Wash.) is progressing with its Gemini open-design system. The company expects to have its first prototype installed before the end of this year into a site in the United States. Because the Allegro PET scanner and Mx8000 CT scanner separately, Philips says the design opens the door for interventional procedures and offers patients the improved comfort of an open design.

Deliveries of the Gemini are anticipated for the first half of 2003.

Philips also is upgrading its SkyLight, the gantry-free gamma camera, which allows for a multitude of patient imaging positions. The company showed SmartStep, a new software which combines multiple manual processes into one automated step for the operator.

Several functions — such as the exchange of collimators — can be handled automatically according to upcoming exams. The DualPlanar option on SkyLight would allow users to scan two patients at the same time. Philips anticipates DualPlanar’s release in the second quarter of 2003.

Philips unveiled its new ENsphere workflow environment. Physicians and nuclear medicine technologists have their own workstation portals where patient information and data are managed. The physicians workstation called PDT (Physicians Diagnostic Toolset) can review patient mulitimodality data and generate reports and then transmit it to the next destination. The PDT also is available in a wireless laptop configuration. An electronic data card slips into the side of the laptop, allowing for over-the-air network connection to the server.

At SNM 2002, Philips gave customers a glimpse of its early investments in the area of molecular imaging across its medical imaging lines. Philips is working with several companies to design the appropriate medical imaging equipment to deal with new oncology and cardiology drugs.

Researchers in Philadelphia used a
high-resolution SPECT to image gene expression in vivo in a mouse leg muscle.

In making its decision on the first image, the organization found that it represented the value of positron emission tomography (PET) as a screening tool. The image and abstract were submitted by researchers at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Hospital (Frankfurt, Germany).

The image was that of an individual who had dermatomyositis, a skin disease often associated with undiagnosed cancer. The patient in the Image of the Year received a whole-body FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) PET scan, even though he exhibited no symptoms of cancer. The FDG-PET revealed a very active lesion in the lung, representing a lung cancer.

This Image of the Year comes from German researchers at Yohann Wolfgang Goethe University Hospital shows the detection of underlying malignancy using 18F-FDG-PET.

SNM officials found that the image demonstrated the type of situation in which PET might be appropriate, given PET’s proven ability to diagnose cancer.

The second co-winner came from the department of radiology and Institute for Human Gene Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia). The basic science image of mouse research demonstrated the potential to measure gene therapy using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

The image displayed a mouse who had a dopamine transporter gene introduced in one leg, and a control agent in another. Researchers were able to image the introduced gene using a high-resolution SPECT camera and a radiotracer designed to bind to the dopamine transporter protein. Alternations in dopamine are known to play a role in Parkinson’s disease.

Merge paid 1 million shares of common stock for the company. The value of the transaction was $6.68 million.

eFilm Medical specializes in medical imaging and information workflow products and services.

Merge President and CEO Richard Linden said the addition of eFilm Medical launches the next phase of Merge’s strategic development and positions Merge “as a global provider of integrated image and information workflow solutions.”

eFilm Medical and Merge have worked in the past to develop products as strategic partners. When the acquisition proposal was made public in April, Linden said the companies’ business partnership was “a key contributor to the acquisition.” The companies developed technologies around Merge’s connectivity, integration and image management products and eFilm Medical’s image visualization and display offerings, which include the eFilm Workstation.

“In the near future, we expect to present a unified suite of solutions to the market, with a broader rollout of our capabilities across the spectrum of image and information workflow slated for release later this year at RSNA 2002,” he said in a prepared statement.

eFilm Medical was founded in 1997 at the University Health Network (Toronto) and Mt. Sinai Hospital (Toronto). The two facilities commissioned a group of engineers to develop an electronic image management system, with the goal of establishing an enterprise-wide filmless environment.

The eFilm Medical purchase is Merge’s second acquisition in the month of June. The company on June 6 bought Aurora Technology Inc. (Lake Bluff, Ill.), a provider of picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), workstations, archives, storage and distribution systems for community hospitals, clinics and medical imaging centers.

Merge paid 93,901 shares of common stock and $100,000 in cash, bringing the value of the transaction to $800,000.

Under the approved plan, ISSI becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Howtek, which also changes its name to icad inc. With the new name comes a change in its listing on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market, with the new ticker symbol of ICAD.

On the management side, former ISSI Chairman, President and CEO W. Kip Speyer becomes CEO of icad, while W. Scott Parr remains as icad’s president and adds the title of COO.

ISSI developed and markets the MammoReader, computer-aided detection (CAD) imaging technology for mammography. The system — which received FDA clearance in January — aids in the early detection of breast cancer by assisting the radiologist in detecting suspicious lesions.

The medical film digitizer firm was acquired by Contex Holdings AS (Allerod, Denmark) in July. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Contex manufactures large format scanners and is owned by EQT (Stockholm), a group of Scandinavian private equity funds, which acquires emerging companies that exhibit strong growth potential.

Vidar will become a Contex subsidiary and remain at its facility in Herndon. With the addition of Vidar, Contex estimates revenues for 2002 will exceed $50 million. Vidar, which employs 110 people, posted net sales of approximately $20 million in 2001.

For many years Contex and Vidar have been competitors and market leaders in the development and distribution of large format image scanning equipment and together hold a very substantial worldwide share of that market. Vidar also established itself as a producer of medical x-ray digitizers for diagnosis and treatment applications.

Plans are for Vidar to continue its focus on medical imaging products, while Contex targets its established market in large format imaging applications. Vidar’s products include the DiagnosticPro plus and Sierra plus film digitizers, which serve the PACS (picture archiving and communications systems), remote primary diagnosis, teleradiology, telemedicine, mammography, and oncology markets.

In its annual report on the domestic ultrasound industry, Klein Biomedical Consultants (KBC of New York City) said last year’s growth “caught us by surprise, especially as it followed a rather flat year in 2000.” Harvey Klein, Ph.D., founder and president of KBC, credited “a strong radiology market, a strong showing for high-end systems, an increase in upgrade revenues, and a stabilization of system prices” for the “significant growth” in 2001.

Klein added that the most significant reason for last year’s gain is “the highly competitive market that has been created by the top three ultrasound companies,” namely Siemens Medical Solutions (Iselin, N.J.), Philips Medical Systems (Bothell, Wash.) and GE Medical Systems (GEMS of Waukesha, Wis.).

Klein figured that the three companies account for 84 percent of the U.S. ultrasound market.

“Ultimately,” Klein continued,

“I believe this will result in benefits to the customer through competitive pricing, as well as the development of new innovations through a renewed commitment to research and development.”

Siemens’ ultrasound division includes Acuson, a Siemens Co. (Mountain View, Calif.), which Siemens acquired in November 2000. Klein’s report states that Siemens retained its No. 1 position on the strength of its Acuson and Sonoline product lines.

That finding is among the details in a new report from IMV Medical Information Division Inc. (Des Plaines, Ill.) on the U.S. CT market.

The report adds that while approximately 20 percent of the CT scanners installed in 1999 had multislice capability, approximately half of all units installed last year carried multislice technology. That 50 percent mark is expected to hold steady through 2003 and beyond.

IMV Vice President and General Manager Mitchell Goldburgh said new clinical opportunities, such as virtual CT colonoscopy, provide the catalyst for multislice CT purchases.

IMV estimates that only 5 percent of U.S. CT sites have virtual CT colonoscopy capabilities in 2001, but facilities offering the procedure will increase to 13 percent this year or in 2003.

The report figures that there were 39.6 million CT procedures performed in the United States last year, which is a 51 percent gain over 1998. The percentage rise in procedures was greater in non-hospital sites than hospitals performing CT. IMV credited the growth to both sites performing CT procedures, as well as an average increase in volume per site.

In MRI, IMV calculates an annual growth rate of 15 percent, which translates into a total of approximately 18 million procedures in 2001.

Vascular MRI procedures are performed in 58 percent of the MRI sites, growing from 1 percent of all MRI procedures in 1994 to 4 percent of all MRI procedures — 830,000 — in 2001. Breast and cardiac procedures, while accounting for only 1 percent of procedures each, are conducted by 23 percent and 13 percent of the MRI sites, respectively.

Goldburgh noted that clinical performance of 1.5T and higher-field magnets continue to drive MRI purchases.

More than 60 percent of MRI’s installed base have magnets of 1.5T or greater and healthcare facilities’ plans for MRI purchases are consistently for high-field systems.

While patient comfort and access issues made low- and mid-field open MRI systems popular in recent years, shorter bore, 1.5T systems for sites that want advanced clinical capabilities are an acceptable solution.

At the heart of the dispute were patents for Fischer’s Mammotest stereotactic breast biopsy system and StereoGuide, a breast biopsy system originally launched by the former Lorad Corp. (Danbury, Conn.). Fischer first filed its patent infringement suit against Lorad in April 1992, then followed with a second round of litigation against the former Trex Medical Corp. (Danbury) in April 1998 after Trex acquired Lorad.

The litigation followed Lorad’s StereoGuide to Trex and moved to Hologic Inc. (Bedford, Mass.) when Hologic purchased Trex from Thermo Electron in September 2000. Under the Hologic-Trex transaction, Thermo Electron retained certain responsibilities for the ongoing patent litigation with Fischer.

The settlement calls for Fischer to receive $25 million in cash from the former Trex and an additional $7.2 million relating to a license through the remaining term of the patents for the continued sale of Hologic’s Lorad MultiCare stereotactic breast biopsy system. The license will be paid in equal annual installments over the next eight years.

Under the agreement, Fischer also will dismiss litigation filed against Hologic in the U.S. District Court of Boston, as well as in courts in France and Germany.

Fischer says the license granted to Hologic covers Hologic’s Lorad MultiCare breast biopsy system, but does not necessarily extend to any new biopsy system that Hologic may market in the future.

Hologic will have the right to continue to sell the Lorad MultiCare worldwide. Because the settlement is covered by Hologic’s indemnification from Thermo Electron and Trex Medical in that acquisition, Hologic is not required to pay any damages or ongoing royalties.

The proposed acquisition would expand Varian’s brachytherapy products and services portfolio to include the MDS Nordion line of GammaMed afterloaders.

“We will have products for all price ranges, a wide array of applicators for every clinical need, and an installed base of more than 550 clinics [worldwide],” said Varian Medical Systems President and CEO Dick Levy.

Coupled with Varian’s current brachytherapy products, the addition of the MDS Nordion business is expected to increase Varian’s annual revenues in this segment to $30 million to $35 million.

Varian Medical Systems achieved total revenues of $774 million in FY01, ending Sept. 28, 2001.

As for MDS Nordion, the move would allow the company to concentrate on its Oncentra suite of oncology treatment planning, record and verify and information management products.

Brachytherapy delivers radiation therapy through the placement of one or more tiny radioactive seeds in or around a cancerous tumor. The technique is designed to deliver a large dose of radiation to the tumor and spare surrounding healthy tissue.

HDR brachytherapy uses a robotic device — or afterloader — to transport a wire with a high-energy, radioactive source on its tip through a catheter to the tumor site. After the dose is delivered, the wire is withdrawn into the afterloader.

HDR brachytherapy often is used in intracavitary and intraluminal sites, including prostate, gynecological, cervix, lung, esophagus, rectum, bile duct, nasopharynx, and breast cancers.

Varian Medical Systems currently supplies its SmartSeed system — which includes the VariSource afterloader and BrachyVision 3D treatment planning software — for precise, image-guided HDR brachytherapy.

“There are simply too few radiologists available to deal with the number of diagnostic images being generated,” notes Mark Bakken, chief operating officer of USRP. “As a result, radiologists are reading more studies than they are comfortable with.”

The survey of 240 radiology practices indicates that 48 percent of radiologists are reading 15,000 or more medical images each year. Thirty-five percent of radiologists surveyed said radiologists at their practices were reading more studies than they thought appropriate, while 54 percent indicated radiologists at their practices were reading an appropriate number of studies. Only 7 percent indicated that radiologists at their practices were reading too few studies.

Forty-eight percent of radiology practices surveyed indicated that they have too few radiologists. About one-third of radiologists surveyed indicated that staffing shortages are diminishing the quality of care they are able to provide, by limiting access to services or by delaying study turnaround times.

Close to 80 percent of the radiology practices surveyed saw an increase in imaging volume over the last fiscal year.

On June 13, Comdisco completed the divestiture of its healthcare leasing assets in the United States to GE Capital Corp.’s (Stamford, Conn.) Healthcare Financial Services unit for approximately $117 million. GE also will assume approximately $46 million in related secured debt and other liabilities.

A second and final closing, for up to approximately $33 million and including up to approximately $6 million in related secured debt, occurred on June 28.

This transaction is the second deal between the two companies.

In January, Comdisco received U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to sell its Electronics and Laboratory & Scientific equipment leasing businesses to GE Capital for $665 million. Future contingent payments would be based on various portfolio performance criteria. The consideration includes the assumption of approximately $250 million of related secured debt.

Comdisco also reached agreement with its Official committee of Unsecured Creditors and Equity Committee on a condensed plan of reorganization.

CTI raised $182.2 million in its initial public offering (IPO), selling 10.7 million shares at $17 per share, within the expected range of $16 to $18 per share. The figures come from Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. (New York City), the lead investment bank on the IPO.

On its debut day, CTI traded between $17.35 and $20.54 per share before ending the day at $19.50 per share. Volume reached 8.1 million shares.

CTI’s IPO was an impressive debut, given a slump in stock markets and investors’ general aversion to smaller companies have hammered demand for IPOs.

CTI is well known in the medical imaging industry for its design and manufacture of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging systems. CTI’s business units include CPS Innovations (Knoxville), which has been developing LSO (lutetium oxyortho-silicate) detector technology to reduce PET scanning times.

Radiopharmaceutical company PETNet Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Knoxville) also is part of CTI. The distributor of the radiotracer fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) currently has 32 locations. PETNet has plans to expand eventually to 60 sites.

CTI revenues and earnings have continued to climb in recent years. The company posted revenues of $188.9 million in 2001, compared with $124 million in 2000 and $88.2 million in 1999. Net income increased to $6.4 million last year, a gain of almost 50 percent from $4.6 million in 2000 and up from $3.9 million in 1999.

Domestic and international growth in its Medical Imaging business helped Del Global Technologies Corp. (Valhalla, N.Y.) overcome a sluggish Power Conversion Group in the company’s third fiscal quarter, ending April 27. Net sales increased 4 percent to $26.9 million, compared with $25.9 million in the third quarter of FY01. The company also posted a net loss of $5.1 million, compared with a net loss of $2,000 in the year-ago quarter. The third-quarter net loss was due to Del’s non-cash charge of approximately $7 million and approximately $200,000 in legal fees related to its class action shareholder litigation settlement. Excluding the charge and other fees, Del would have posted operating income of approximately $934,000 in the third quarter.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (New York City) has named Cory Zwerling as president of Bristol-Myers Squibb Medical Imaging Inc. (North Billerica, Mass.). Zwerling most recently served as general manager, leading the integration of the division into Bristol-Myers Squibb following the acquisition of DuPont Pharmaceuticals in October 2001.

Barry K. Hanover

TechniScan Inc. (Salt Lake City) has named several new executives to its management team. The company has named Barry K. Hanover its new COO. Hanover most recently served as vice president of surgery engineering for GE Medical Systems’ OEC Medical Systems (Salt Lake City) unit. William C. Varley takes the position of vice president of marketing and sales. Varley joins TechniScan from the former Acuson Corp. (Mountain View, Calif.), where he served as vice president of worldwide marketing for the company’s Cardiology Business Operations. Matthew Warnock becomes the company’s vice president of intellectual property. Warnock joins TechniScan from Millcreek Ventures Corp. (Sandy, Utah), a consulting company he co-founded and served as president and CEO.

William C. Varley

Matthew Warnock

Toshiba America Medical Systems (TAMS of Tustin, Calif.) announced two new appointments. TAMS named Karen Barack-LaPoint as senior director for business operations. LaPoint joins TAMS after a 15-year career that includes service at the former Marconi Medical Systems Inc. (Highland Heights, Ohio) as vice president of North American sales; global sales manager of nuclear medicine; and national product sales manager of nuclear medicine. TAMS also named Lawrence Dentice as vice president of sales to manage field sales, strategic accounts and the dealer organization. Dentice most recently served as vice president of sales and marketing for information technology firm Inphact (Nashville, Tenn.). He also served at the former Marconi Medical Systems from 1985 through 2001 as vice president of U.S. sales.