Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, launched its advanced IMPAX HeartStation solution for ECG analysis in Europe at the European Society of Cardiology's (ESC) annual congress in Stockholm, Sweden. IMPAX Heartstation 1.3, already installed in the United States, is the company's comprehensive data management solution for automating the processing and storage of electrocardiograms. The solution offers an extensive range of ECG related clinical tasks and is now available across Europe.
New is the fact that IMPAX Heartstation 1.3 allows specialists to digitally review and archive 15-lead ECG studies. Compared to more commonly found 12-lead ECG equipment, 15-lead ECG provides more data for detecting heart attacks in the right and posterior ventricle walls. IMPAX HeartStation's innovative features analyze and prioritize 12- and 15-lead ECG exams as they come into the system and alert care providers if an ECG indicates that patient is experiencing a critical condition. IMPAX HeartStation uses an Agfa HealthCare-developed technology that identifies specific words or phrases in the ECG interpretation statement. Any exam matching the configurable keywords is immediately prioritized to the top of the ECG worklist. A distinctive, noticeable watermark is digitally created on the ECG tracing to notify the physician of the criticality of the exam.
Additional new features to Agfa HealthCare's latest version of IMPAX HeartStation include the availability of a full ECG patient history, enhanced side by side ECG comparison, support for other cardiac reports (Holter, Stress, Spirometry), remote connectivity, age-based classification of ECGs, ECG data fixing and on-line context sensitive documentation.
The solution has already been installed in the United States, where at the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center in Cumberland, a 275-bed facility; it supports the management of more than 25,000 cardiology studies a year. IMPAX HeartStation integrates seamlessly with Agfa HealthCare's cardiovascular image management and reporting solution: IMPAX Cardiovascular.
"The release of our latest IMPAX HeartStation solution is the next step in our drive to provide easy-to-use tools that deliver timely, meaningful information to busy diagnosticians," states Volker Wetekam, Vice President of Agfa HealthCare's IT Division. "The solution has already demonstrated that it can play a significant role in providing relevant and timely information to specialists in the U.S., and we look forward to our first European-based results soon!"
Related news articles:
- Agfa HealthCare's Profile
About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world’s leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,755 million euro in 2009.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2009 were 1,178 million euro. For more information on Agfa HealthCare, please visit www.agfahealthcare.com.