MINNEAPOLIS, March 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vital Images, Inc. , a leading provider of enterprise-wide advanced visualization and analysis solutions, today announced the company will feature the next generation of ViTALCardia(TM), at the 56th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), March 24-27. ViTALCardia enhancements include a new EP planning tool and CathView(TM), a new angiographic orientation, and intuitive protocols that automate workflow including automatic: segmenting, viewing, labeling, probing and quantifying of cardiovascular image data.
Designed specifically for cardiologists, ViTALCardia is an advanced visualization and analysis tool designed for non-invasive evaluation of cardiovascular disease. The software includes several high-performance applications for the visualization and analysis of cardiovascular images, including: coronary vessel analysis, cardiac functional analysis, calcium scoring, peripheral vessel analysis and SUREPlaque, coronary plaque characterization software. With the availability of higher resolution image data, ViTALCardia focuses on the quantification and characterization of disease through the analysis of highly resolved image data.
"Cardiac CT continues to revolutionize clinical Cardiology, yielding exciting new information about heart disease," said Robert S. Schwartz, MD, FACC, FAHA, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Foundation. "The ability to visualize and characterize disease noninvasively is unparalleled with this technology, and is progressing very rapidly in resolution and accuracy. Tools such as ViTALCardia have the promise to dramatically change clinical Cardiology practice."
"The robust nature of the centerline tool allows me to look around areas of prominent coronary calcification and make a diagnosis that I otherwise could not make," said John Lesser, MD, FACC, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Foundation.
CT Cardiac - Automatic Segmentation of Coronary Arteries
ViTALCardia's CT Cardiac application now automatically probes, segments, and labels the three main coronary arteries allowing for fast and easy non- invasive evaluation. With no user input, the application automatically segments the Left Anterior Descending artery, the Circumflex artery, and the Right Coronary artery. This anticipatory preprocessing facilitates a streamlined workflow. A new cardiovascular report was designed to automatically populate as findings are obtained, thereby reducing the number of steps needed to compile a final report.
Cardiac Functional Analysis
The powerful Cardiac Functional Analysis (CFA) application automatically calculates end diastolic and end systolic volumes to compute ejection fraction. Providing automatic qualitative and quantitative assessments of left ventricular function, CFA segments the left ventricle, automatically calculates cardiac output, myocardial mass, myocardial volume, and analyzes wall motion with 4D cine reviews. The application provides full color polar plots charting quantitative wall motion data.
ViTAL EP
ViTALCardia contains a 3D advanced visualization and modeling tool for the electrophysiology (EP) lab. ViTAL EP, which is pending FDA clearance, automatically identifies anatomic landmarks, segments and probes the left atrium and the pulmonary veins to the first bifurcation. The application then creates a three dimensional anatomic model of the heart for super-imposing EP mapping. In addition to its powerful clinical features, ViTAL EP has a streamlined integration with the St. Jude Medical EnSite(R) System.
"For nearly a decade, Vital Images has been providing intuitive, elegant, and clinically relevant advanced visualization solutions that have established us as an industry leader," said Susan A. Wood, Ph.D., executive vice president of marketing and product development for Vital Images. "We have now applied the same principles of anticipatory automation to the development of ViTALCardia. The resulting robust clinical collaboration tools and dedicated advanced 3D tools can quickly and easily be integrated into daily practice, delivering a comprehensive solution specifically designed to optimize cardiovascular workflow."
About ViTALCardia(TM)
ViTALCardia(TM) is a comprehensive package targeted for the unique workflows of the cardiologist including several high-performance applications: coronary vessel analysis, cardiac functional analysis, calcium scoring and peripheral vessel analysis, and EP. The current package contains some applications that are pending FDA clearance and not currently available for commercial distribution in the United States.
ViTALCardia is fast and easy to use, with an efficient workflow that offers accessibility to multiple physicians within a healthcare enterprise. This software provides tools to plan intra-vascular procedures, customized cardiac reporting and single-click navigation of suspect regions. The ViTALCardia solution provides anywhere, anytime accessibility to key information and the ability to access the workflow throughout the cardiology enterprise.
About Vital Images, Inc.
Vital Images, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is a leading provider of enterprise-wide advanced visualization and analysis software solutions. The company's technology gives radiologists, cardiologists, oncologists and other medical specialists time-saving productivity and communications tools that can be accessed throughout the enterprise and via the Web for easy use in the day- to-day practice of medicine. Vital Images also has offices in The Hague, Netherlands and Beijing, China. For more information, visit http://www.vitalimages.com .
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information includes estimates of 2006 GAAP and non-GAAP results. These statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause results to differ materially from those projected, including but not limited to dependence on market growth, the successful inter-operability of health care technology from multiple vendors, the timely availability and acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, dependence on major customers, fluctuations in quarterly results, third-party reimbursement, the impact of changes to stock-based compensation pursuant to FASB's statement of financial accounting standards No. 123R, and other risks detailed from time to time in Vital Images' and Emageon's SEC reports, including each company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and Vital Images' quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2006 and June 30, 2006.
ViTALCardia(TM) and CathView(TM) are trademarks of Vital Images, Inc. Vital Images disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.
ViTAL EP and CathView(TM) are awaiting FDA clearance and are not currently available for commercial distribution in the United States.
Vital Images, Inc.CONTACT: Michael H. Carrel, Chief Financial Officer & Chief OperatingOfficer of Vital Images, +1-952-487-9500
Web site: http://www.vitalimages.com/
