Eklin Medical Systems, Inc. Surpasses 1,000th RapidStudy(R) Digital Radiography System Installation

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital radiography (DR) has been growing rapidly in veterinary medicine, accounting for a significant percentage of DR systems installed throughout the world. Eklin Medical Systems, a global leader in DR, ultrasound, PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications Systems) and practice management software (VIA) solutions for veterinary care, announced it recently installed its overall 1,000th RapidStudy(R) DR system at Veterinary Surgical Associates (VSA) and its associate practice, Veterinary Medical Specialists (VMS), in Dublin, California. Incorporating sensor panel technology from Canon U.S.A., Inc., Eklin's milestone installation is one of more than 7,300 Canon DR sensor panels installed worldwide by the Canon family of companies, including more than 2,600 units installed by Canon U.S.A. in North and South America.

"Eklin has been an extremely important contributor to the global growth of our DR system installations, especially in the U.S., one of our largest markets," said Tsuneo Imai, senior director and general manager, Medical Systems Division, Canon U.S.A., Inc. "Eklin's integration of veterinary specific algorithms with our state-of-the-art DR sensor panel has resulted in some of the veterinary care market's leading DR technology. Consequently, Eklin has become our largest distributor of this highly sophisticated DR system."

VSA and VMS installed the 999th and 1,000th Eklin RapidStart DR systems, respectively in August and will be installing two more RapidStart systems this month, representing a total of six Eklin systems throughout VSA's and VMS' four shared facilities in San Mateo, Campbell, Concord and Dublin, California. VSA and VMS are leading veterinary care providers in Northern California, specializing in surgery, internal medicine, oncology and emergency healthcare.

"Our mission is to provide the San Francisco Bay Area with quality surgery performed with the highest consideration for our patients, their human companions and the referring veterinarian who entrusts us with the care of them both," said Chuck Walls, DVM, Diplomate ACVS, VSA. "To this end, we purchased Eklin's DR solution because it provides not only superb, but even better image quality than film-based x-rays in a fraction of the time. This gives us greater diagnostic confidence while allowing us to begin treatment sooner, which many times can result in a far more positive outcome for the patient."

Just as digital cameras have made photography easier and more efficient by eliminating film, DR systems provide the veterinarian with a radiographic image that can be viewed virtually immediately onsite at any connected review workstation, or, if connected though Eklin's RapidPACS Web-edition, anywhere in the world. DR systems also offer sophisticated image processing tools, giving the doctor much greater depth of information that can be enlarged or manipulated for far better detail, resulting in closer scrutiny of potential areas of concern. Eklin offers either a 9"x11" Canon CXDI-31 DR imaging sensor panel for large animal extremities, or a CXDI-50G 14"x17" DR sensor panel which provides the imaging area suitable for radiographing everything from small cats and large dogs, up to elephant feet.

"VSA's and VMS' commitment to outstanding patient care makes this highly skilled group of professionals an excellent representative of our rapidly growing installed base," said Gary R. Cantu, CEO and chairman of Eklin. "Coupled with technology from Canon, one of the world's leaders in DR sensor panel technology, we developed the Eklin Digital Practice(R) approach to provide outstanding image quality and workflow efficiencies in support of this commitment by all of our clients. We value and appreciate the level of trust VSA and all our other clients have put in Eklin to be their partner. We now look forward to the installation of our next 1,000 units."

Eklin's 1,001st RapidStart system was recently installed at Braden River Equine, which is owned by Elizabeth Brown, DVM, in Sarasota, Florida. Brown and business partner Terah Browning, DVM, also purchased and installed an Eklin DR and RapidPACS system at West Coast Veterinary Center, their small animal practice, as well as one of Eklin's portable ultrasound systems which will be shared between both practices.

"We looked at several DR, PACS and ultrasound systems prior to choosing Eklin's solutions," said Brown. "We absolutely want to offer our patients and clients the best in imaging and digital technology. It is gratifying to be able to kick off the next 1,000 Eklin DR system installations and also benefit from other leading imaging modalities available through Eklin as well."

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Canon U.S.A., Inc. delivers consumer, business-to-business, and industrial imaging solutions. Its parent company, Canon Inc. , a top patent holder of technology, ranked third overall in the U.S. in 2007, with global revenues of $39.3 billion, is listed as one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies in America and is on the 2007 BusinessWeek list of "Top 100 Brands." Canon U.S.A. has installed more than 2,600 DR sensor panels throughout Canada, the United States and Latin America, part of more than 7,100 DR systems that have been installed worldwide by the Canon family of companies. For further information, visit http://www.usa.canon.com.

About Eklin Medical Systems, Inc.

With thousands of systems installed in private practices and universities around the globe, Eklin Medical Systems, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of veterinary PACS, practice management software (VIA), ultrasound and digital radiography products. Clients include more than 90 percent of U.S. veterinary schools of medicine, such as UC Davis, University of Ohio, Pennsylvania State and Texas A&M. Numerous Zoos and Marine facilities, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Bronx, SeaWorld and the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Training Center, also employ Eklin Technology. Eklin is a privately-held company with reported sales revenues in excess of $35 million in 2007 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. The company can be contacted at 800-819-5538 or visit http://www.eklin.com.

CONTACT: Heather Hasay of Canon U.S.A., Inc., +1-516-328-5111,
hhasay@cusa.canon.com; or Laurie Hallwyler of Eklin Medical Systems,
+1-650-248-9081, lhallwyler@eklin.com

Web site: http://www.eklin.com/
http://www.usa.canon.com/

Back to news