Terarecon, Inc. Showcases SCCT-Compliant Aquarius iNtuition 4.4 at ACC 2009

SAN MATEO, CA--(Marketwire - March 29, 2009) - TeraRecon, Inc. (www.terarecon.com), a leader in advanced visualization solutions for medical imaging, today announced the cardiovascular CT interpretation and reporting capabilities of the newly-released Aquarius iNtuition software version 4.4, which are compliant with guidelines recently established by the Society for Cardiac Computed Tomography ("SCCT"). The new software's capabilities will be demonstrated at the 58th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology ("ACC") in Orlando from March 29 - 31, 2009.

At ACC 2009, tens of thousands of professionals from the global cardiology community will meet to present and discuss new innovations in cardiac care, including the growing incorporation of computed tomography ("CT") imaging into cardiac diagnosis and treatment protocols. CT technology has evolved over recent years to make possible a wide range of new imaging procedures that offer a less-invasive and often more economical alternative to conventional diagnostic techniques such as catheter angiography, and the SCCT is focused on issues related to such application of CT technology to cardiac imaging.

The SCCT guidelines are established in an article currently in press to be published in the March/April 2009 edition of the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography(1). In the article, the authors outline requirements for interpreting and reporting coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), all of which are supported by TeraRecon's newly-available Aquarius iNtuition 4.4 software.

Jeff Sorenson, TeraRecon vice president of sales and marketing, USA and Canada, said: "In fact, Aquarius iNtuition 4.4 far exceeds the interpretation requirements established by SCCT and addresses many other important aspects of a truly efficient and effective interpretation workflow for CCTA, which are not directly addressed by the SCCT publication. Today's CT systems include 320-slice and 256-slice technologies which can acquire truly massive datasets, while employing complex strategies to control dose, which result in variations of image quality across different phases of the cardiac cycle and other considerations which must be effectively managed by the software."

Mr. Sorenson continued: "As was demonstrated at the recent advanced visualization 'face-off' at the ECR meeting in Vienna, despite poor image quality due to dose modulation, iNtuition was able to deliver a calculation of left ventricular ejection fraction within 1% of the result obtained by echo, while delivering a superior workflow efficiency and substantial time savings vs competing software in an objective 'time and motion' study of cardiac CT interpretation performed using the software(2)."

The iNtuition solution provides capabilities including advanced coronary analysis with plaque assessment, 4D functional assessment, 4D valvular analysis, EP planning, calcium scoring and a variety of other cardiovascular tools including EVAR planning, all delivered through a thin-client interface that can integrate smoothly with cardiology information management systems and PACS.

iNtuition provides powerful decision support through automated preprocessing that identifies and labels anatomy while automating various segmentation and vascular analysis tasks upon scan completion so that the examination is ready for immediate interpretation once opened by a physician. iNtuition's "Workflow Template" concept allows interpretation steps to be followed in a logical sequence, with the system presenting each relevant view in turn, based on the anatomical landmarks established by the automated software.

Timely and convenient distribution of results is made possible via a simple web link to the AquariusWEB viewer, which provides interactive 3D image review directly through a web browser or suitable PDA, such as the iPhone.

"The superiority of the iNtuition solution is derived from a long experience developing Cardiac CT interpretation and management software, dating back to 1997 when Cardiac CT was in its infancy, as well as the company's unparalleled core technology advantage," said Robert Taylor, PhD, TeraRecon president and chief operating officer. "Even today, as was demonstrated less than one month ago in Vienna, TeraRecon is the only company that can deliver a true Cardiac CT interpretation solution via a thin client-server architecture, and with enough power in one of our servers to simultaneously render over 100,000 CT images, only TeraRecon can really provide a solution capable of managing modern Cardiac CT requirements in a multi-user environment where datasets can approach 10,000 slices in size."

About TeraRecon, Inc. (www.terarecon.com)

TeraRecon Inc., a leader in advanced image processing and 3D visualization techniques, provides advanced imaging systems for medical and other visualization applications based on its unique and patented image processing technologies. A four-time winner of Frost and Sullivan awards, the company has developed a leading portfolio of products that advance the performance, quality, functionality, and integration of image processing and 3D visualization systems. Founded in 1997, TeraRecon has developed a unique family of powerful processors that are used in its real-time, enterprise-wide image processing solutions. TeraRecon is a privately held company with headquarters in San Mateo, CA, European headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, and branch offices in Concord, MA; Tokyo, Japan and Osaka, Japan.

(1) Gilbert L. Raff, MD*, Chair, Aiden Abidov, MD, PhD, Stephan Achenbach, MD, Daniel S. Berman, MD, Lawrence M. Boxt, MD, Matthew J. Budoff, MD, Victor Cheng, MD, Tony DeFrance, MD, Jeffrey C. Hellinger, MD, Ronald P. Karlsberg, MD. "SCCT guidelines for the interpretation and reporting of coronary computed tomographic angiography"

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: GRaff@beaumont.edu, Submitted January 22, 2009. Accepted for publication January 23, 2009, retrieved March 12, 2009 from http://www.scct.org/news/SCCTGuidelines.pdf

(2) The abstract for this presentation may be accessed on-line via the web site www.myesr.org, under ECR 2009 Scientific Sessions number SS-203, presentation B-129, or by following this link: http://tinyurl.com/b8qnb3