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NEWS RELEASE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
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Media Contact:
Beth Frost-Johnson, Sr. VP of Marketing
Merge Healthcare
414.977.4254
bfrost@merge.com
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CEDARA SOFTWARE PARTNERS WITH ADVANCED IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE BREAST ULTRASOUND SYSTEM
- Cedara to provide a broad range of technologies for integration in the ARIA Breast Imaging System™, AIT’s innovative breast imaging system
- ARIA to elevate diagnostic capability for the analysis of dense breast tissue
- Partnership to boost AIT’s time-to-market and accelerate product development
Toronto, ON, November 28, 2006 – Cedara Software, a Merge Healthcare company (Nasdaq: MRGE; TSX: MRG) and a leading independent developer of medical software technologies for the global healthcare market, today announced a new strategic relationship with Advanced Imaging Technologies Inc. (AIT) of Richland, Washington. The company markets the ARIA Breast Imaging System, an innovative whole breast imaging technology. AIT provides medical professionals with an integrated, cost-effective and intuitive solution for imaging women with dense breast tissue, improving diagnostic confidence in these often difficult cases. Under the terms of the agreement, AIT will be provided with a broad range of software technologies including a console application for the ARIA imaging system. Cedara’s decision to enter into this strategic partnership is based on the company’s review of AIT’s technology and readiness for market deployment.
Based on a novel new approach to ultrasound the ARIA system utilizes holography, or the diffractive properties of sound, to produce data rich image sets. Recent clinical studies indicate that ARIA images dense breast tissue very well, and provides high spatial and contrast resolution through an automated multi-planar paradigm. Beyond image quality, ARIA requires no painful breast compression or ionizing radiation and is safe for imaging women of all ages. Current capabilities include 3D reconstruction, support for real-time image-guided biopsy, enhanced image quality of dense breast tissue, as well as standardized image acquisition and display.
Holographic ultrasound represents a striking technological advance beyond conventional techniques. Using diffractive ultrasound transmission principles, as opposed to reflective or backscatter ultrasound found in traditional equipment, the ARIA collects sequential image slices of the tissue creating volumetric data sets of the breast. ARIA’s superior imaging capability for women with dense breast tissue makes it a valuable diagnostic decision making tool for medical professionals. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in a report published by the National Institute of Health (NIH), a high level of cancers reside in dense breast tissue.
Cedara and AIT will be working together on additional developments for the ARIA system to provide various advanced image processing, segmentation, and analysis features such as image stitching, skin line detection, and image enhancement (CIE).
"Improving our time to market is vital for AIT. So is adding a number of sophisticated new capabilities to our ARIA system. Our strategic relationship with Cedara gives us both," said Lura Powell, President of AIT. “Cedara’s highly experienced engineering team will allow us to do more, faster, and we are looking forward to working with them."
As a component of the agreement, Cedara has also acquired a small equity stake in Advanced Imaging Technologies. Cedara Software and Advanced Imaging Technologies will jointly promote the ARIA system to the OEM community.\
"We are very pleased to be working with AIT," said Loris Sartor, President of Cedara Software. "Our partnership with AIT is a great example of Cedara’s value proposition to device and modality companies: reducing costs and accelerating product development. From development platforms to software components, complete applications and engineering services, Cedara’s solutions provide a highly efficient means to do this."
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Advanced Imaging Technologies (AIT), of Richland, WA, is a leader in dense breast diagnostic imaging. AIT has commercialized the ARIA Breast Imaging System, an integrated, cost-effective platform solution for enhanced imaging of dense breast tissue and increased confidence in diagnostic decision-making. ARIA is comprised of the HU2400 imaging platform and the ARIA image and PACS/DICOM compatible data management system, that provides multiple views highlighting the 3D capabilities of the technology. The HU2400 utilizes the diffractive and through-transmission properties of ultrasound to deliver consistent, multi-planar images in real-time and provides a large field of view in a safe, non- invasive/non-ionizing radiation environment. For additional information, please visit www.aitimaging.com.
Cedara Software is a Merge Healthcare company focused on the development of custom engineered software applications and development tools for the medical imaging OEM and International markets. Cedara software is deployed in hospitals and clinics worldwide and is licensed by many of the world's leading medical device and healthcare information technology companies. Cedara technologies and expertise span all the major digital imaging modalities including computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), digital X-ray, mammography, ultrasound, echo-cardiology, angiography, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography (PET) and fluoroscopy. Cedara medical imaging offerings are used in all aspects of clinical imaging workflow including the capture of a patient's digital image; the archiving, communication and manipulation of digital images; sophisticated clinical applications to analyze digital images; and the use of imaging in minimally-invasive surgery. For additional information, visit our website at www.cedara.com.
Merge Healthcare is a market leader in the development and delivery of medical imaging and information management software and services. With over twenty years of leadership in the medical imaging and healthcare information technology markets, Merge Healthcare provides innovative solutions for both OEM and the end-user healthcare markets. We custom engineer clinical and imaging applications and development tools that are on the forefront of medicine and its use of medical imaging for OEM and international customers. We develop innovative medical imaging software solutions that support end-to-end business and clinical workflow for radiology department and specialty practices, imaging centers and hospitals. Our innovative software solutions use leading-edge imaging software technologies that accelerate market delivery for our OEM customers, while our end-user solutions improve our customers' productivity and enhance the quality of patient care they provide. For additional information, visit our website at www.merge.com.
All trademarks appearing in this release are the property of Cedara Software Corp. and/or Merge Healthcare.
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Attn: Beth Frost-Johnson
Merge Healthcare
6737 West Washington St.
Suite 2250
Milwaukee, WI 53214
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| Except for the historical information herein, the matters discussed in this news release include forward-looking statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. When used in this press release, the words “will,” “believes,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “expects” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the uncertainty created by, the adverse impact on relationships with customers, potential customers, suppliers and investors potentially resulting from, and other risks associated with, the changes in the Company’s senior management; costs, risks and effects of the investigation by the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors; the impact of the restatement of financial statements of the Company and other actions that may be taken or required as a result of such restatement; the Company's inability to timely file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission; risks associated with the Company's inability to meet the requirements of The NASDAQ Stock Market for continued listing, including possible delisting; costs, risks and effects of legal proceedings and investigations, including the informal, non-public inquiry being conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and class action, derivative, and other lawsuits; risks in product and technology development, market acceptance of new products and continuing product demand, the impact of competitive products and pricing, ability to integrate acquisitions, changing economic conditions, credit and payment risks associated with end-user sales, dependence on major customers, dependence on key personnel, and other risk factors detailed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such factors or to publicly announce the results of any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future events, developments, or changed circumstances, or for any other reason.
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