Imaging Technology Puts Stamford, Conn.-Based FujiFilm Medical on Map.

Publication: Greenwich Time (Greenwich, Connecticut) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 Greenwich Time

Byline: Julie Fishman-Lapin

Feb. 15--Popular television shows such as ER still depict doctors viewing X-rays the old fashioned way -- snapping an oversized film negative on a mounted light box and then pensively studying the black-and-white image. But that's Hollywood.

The next time you visit an area hospital for a X-ray, MRI or CT scan, your doctor will likely study your insides using advanced digital imaging and information technology called Picture Archiving and Communication System, known in the medical world as PACS. It's a technology that's transforming the way medical professionals read, share and store X-rays.

It's also a technology that's transforming Stamford-based FujiFilm Medical Systems USA, a division of Fuji Photo Film Co., into a major player in the medical technology market. PACS makes it possible to bring digital images to the radiologist's eyes, when doctors historically could only view those X-rays on developed film, said Robert Cooke, FujiFilm Medical's executive director of marketing and network systems.

Previously, film was the capture medium as well as the archival medium, said Clayton Larsen, FujiFilm Medical's vice president of marketing and network development. FujiFilm's new technology uses digital imaging and software to enable doctors to view, archive and manage a patient's X-rays electronically.

So instead of waiting for a hard-copy film to be developed, doctors can call up an image of your broken femur bone on a computer screen in just seconds. If the radiologist would like to consult with a specialist, a link to the image can be sent so that both parties can view and discuss the image simultaneously. Then the X-ray is digitally stored for future use.

Fuji's PACS product, Synapse, is used in 214 health-care facilities around the country, including Greenwich Hospital, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Westchester Medical Center, Larsen...

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