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December 4, 2008

TOSHIBA EDUCATION CENTER OFFERS NEW DYNAMIC VOLUME CT AND BREAST MR COURSES

Comprehensive Courses Provide Hands-on Training with Advanced Toshiba Technology

CHICAGO — December 4, 2008 — Continuing to expand its educational offerings, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has created two new courses that will be taught at the Toshiba Education Center in Irvine, Calif. One course will provide an overview of dynamic volume CT using Toshiba’s Aquilion® ONE while the other will focus on breast imaging using Toshiba’s Vantage™ MR technology. Toshiba will be showcasing the Aquilion ONE CT system and the Vantage MR systems at this year’s Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting in Chicago, Nov. 30 – Dec. 5, 2008 (Booth #3429, South Hall).

“Toshiba continues to advance not only its technology, but also its educational offerings,” said Sharon Yoon, director, Education and Sales Support, Toshiba. “Without quality, hands-on training, many clinicians will not be able to fully utilize these technological advances, which can directly impact the care provided to patients.”

While using Toshiba’s 320-detector row dynamic volume CT, physicians and technologists will be presented with the differences between traditional helical scanning and dynamic volume technology and its benefits regarding workflow, clinical pathways and patient comfort. This five-day course will be taught at the Toshiba Education Center, in Irvine, Calif. Students will be given the opportunity to work with the Aquilion ONE to gain further understanding of its advantages regarding workflow, particularly in hospital and emergency room settings.

Introduced in November 2007, the Aquilion ONE scans an entire organ, up to 16 cm of anatomy, in a single pass. The system features 320 detector rows (0.5 mm in width) and can produce a 4D video that shows an organ’s structure, its movement and blood flow. In comparison, a 64-slice or 128-slice CT scanner can capture only a portion of an organ in a single pass, requiring physicians to “stitch together” multiple scans of an organ to get a full image. The new technology helps reduce multiple exposures to radiation and limits exam time.

Focusing on the growing field of breast MR, Toshiba has also introduced a two-day course that teaches basic anatomy and physiology as well as advanced concepts in breast imaging using Toshiba’s Vantage MR technology. The course provides technologists the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in breast MR.

The Radiance Breast Imaging package available on the Vantage includes advanced sequencing options that provide comprehensive implant and cancer diagnostic capabilities. These options include Dynamic Quick 3D imaging, fat-free imaging, silicone-only imaging, water-only imaging and high resolution sequences. Toshiba’s patented Slice Selective Fat-Free imaging technique ensures robust fat saturation that is needed to properly perform breast MRI procedures. Typically fatty tissue like the breast is difficult to image. However, with this technique, the Vantage can obtain high-quality images by separating out the fat tissue.

Other benefits include bilateral, dedicated, breast coil, which provides enhanced resolution for kinetic analysis and lesion characterization and Toshiba’s patented Pianissimo™ technology, which reduces acoustic noise by up to 90 percent, addressing the number one patient complaint with the quietest system available.

Physicians and technologists can learn more about these two courses by visitinghttp://www.ToshibaLearningCenter.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 Corp., an independent group company of Toshiba Corp., is a global leading provider of diagnostic medical imaging systems and comprehensive medical solutions, such as CT, Cath & EP Labs, X-ray, Ultrasound, MRI and information systems. Toshiba Corp. is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products, and power systems. Toshiba has approximately 198,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of $77 billion. For more information, visit www.medical.toshiba.com.