News | Press Releases

---

June 24, 2005

TOSHIBA EXPANDS CAPABILITIES OF NON-CONTRAST MR ANGIOGRAPHY TECHNIQUE

Fresh Blood Imaging Platform Provides Greater Detail Without Contrast Injection

TUSTIN, Calif., June 24, 2005 – Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS) today announced availability of Contrast Improved Angiography (CIA), further supporting the fast, high-resolution imaging needs of today’s clinicians and advancing Toshiba’s pioneering work in MR angiography. CIA offers better visualization of smaller vessels with greater contrast and better separation of arterial and venous blood flows.

The proprietary Fresh Blood Imaging (FBI) technique, developed in 1998 by Toshiba, is widely accepted by the medical imaging market and is the technology platform for CIA.  Incorporating flow-adjusted technology, CIA provides detailed images without the need for costly contrast material and enables clinicians to perform reproducible noninvasive angiography studies using magnetic resonance (MR) technology.

According to Bob Giegerich, director, MR Business Unit, Toshiba America Medical Systems, since the introduction of the first FBI technique to the market, Toshiba has dedicated itself to researching applications developed using the same platform.

“Toshiba is leading the FBI market, and the advent of CIA will further reinforce our leadership in the field.  It is our expectation that widespread adoption of CIA can eliminate the burden for high volume vascular labs that find themselves overloaded with angiography cases.”

CIA is available on Toshiba’s Excelart Vantage^TM MRI system and incorporates high-performance imaging capabilities into a patient-focused design that reduces acoustic noise by up to 90 percent.

The Vantage features an ultra-short magnet at 140 cm with linear 30 mT/m (milliTesla per meter) gradient strength with a slew rate of 50 T/m/s (Tesla per meter per second), or 130 T/m/s.  Despite the short length of the magnet, the system delivers the highest homogeneity of any magnet in the industry over the full 50 cm diameter spherical volume (DSV).

Offering some of the most advanced MRI applications available on the market today, the Vantage features several optional packages including Advanced Cardiac Imaging, Freeze Frame Imaging, Fat Free Imaging and new Body Vision, a diffusion technique using Echo Planar Imaging.

With Toshiba’s patented Pianissimo^TM technology, which reduces acoustic noise by as much as 90 percent, the Vantage dramatically reduces the most significant cause of patient discomfort and enables clinicians to better utilize all of the system’s high-field MRI capabilities including SPEEDER parallel imaging for increased acquisition speed which reduces examination times. For more information about the Vantage, TAMS and its wide range of medical imaging products, please visit www.medical.toshiba.com.

About Toshiba
With headquarters in Tustin, Calif., Toshiba America Medical Systems markets, sells, distributes and services diagnostic imaging systems, and coordinates clinical diagnostic imaging research for all modalities in the United States.  Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, an independent group company of Toshiba Corporation, is a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT, X-ray, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, MRI and information systems.  Toshiba Corporation is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products, and power systems.  Toshiba has approximately 162,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of $55 billion.
Excelart Vantage^TM and Pianissimo^TM are trademarks of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation.