SCIENCE

University Hospital Zurich (USZ) announced it has installed the Ziostation supercomputing functional analytics system from Ziosoft, Inc. The system will provide a single 2D-4D imaging analytic solution for multi-modality clinical applications needs, replacing several existing single modality workstations from a variety of vendors throughout the hospital.

"We needed to have a single solution provider for our CT and MR imaging needs in lieu of specific workstations for each modality," said Thomas Frauenfelder, MD, deputy director of the Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, USZ. "It was critical to have a budget friendly solution, yet one that added great value in line with our high-end strategy for excellent patient care and befitting the reputation of the hospital. The Ziostation delivers superior image quality for a wide range of clinical applications across multiple imaging modalities."

Ziosoft's technology is based on an open standard architecture that can be applied to any DICOM-based imaging modality including CT, MRI, PET and ultrasound. This also allows developers to rapidly take advantage of hardware advances and provide easy access to data across the enterprise regardless of modality.

The hospital recently added Medicsight's, a partner of Ziosoft, ColonCAD API. This technology is designed to assist radiologists during their review of CT colonography (CTC - also known as "Virtual Colonoscopy") images by automatically highlighting potential colorectal polyps (possible precursors to colorectal cancer) on the CT image.

"ColonCAD integrates seamlessly into the Ziostation system's protocols," said Frauenfelder. "All of the system's protocols can be customized for optimization of workflow. With immediate access of eight concurrent users per server throughout our enterprise system, we can access data from multiple modalities which maximizes the continuum of care for every patient."

University Hospital Zurich is one of the largest and most important teaching hospitals in Europe. It is also one of the largest hospitals and the first hospital in Zürich. With its 40 divisions and institutes, the hospital is renowned for its achievements in health care, research and teaching, as well as for compassionate care. About 150,000 patients are treated every year, around 110,000 of them as outpatients and 40,000 as inpatients. The University Hospital Zurich's portfolio of services ranges from basic care for the population of the canton of Zurich to cutting-edge medical services which are also open to patients outside the canton. It is the medical center of choice for complex and serious illnesses. Highly qualified medical personnel provide specialized medicine of the highest quality, based on the latest research findings, patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness.

"We are pleased to partner with this prestigious healthcare provider," said Bart Hendriks, managing director, EMEA, Ziosoft. "We look forward to providing the hospital with additional software advances such as PhyZiodynamic™ solutions, the gateway to 5D functional analytics, as we continue to take advantage of our supercomputing open architecture technology in support of excellence in patient care."