Although most hospitals in Europe have some kind of information system in place, very few have a fully integrated and functional hospital information systems (HIS) solutions installed. The adoption rate of HIS solutions in 2008 in Europe varied from about 73.0 per cent in Italy and Spain to 95.0 per cent in Scandinavia.

At the ESC (European Society of Cardiology) Congress 2009, Siemens will be demonstrating a new cardiac application for the syngo DynaCT Cardiac imaging application. During transfemoral aortic valve replacement, a heart valve prosthesis gets implanted via peripheral artery access.

Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) is to unveil its latest advance in heart disease detection, the PageWriter TC50 cardiograph, which uses gender-differentiated criteria to assist in the diagnosis of heart disease in women, where symptoms may be different from men (1). The PageWriter TC50 will have its global launch at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2009.

The Maggiore della Carità in Novara, Italy is currently installing a RIS/PACS from Carestream Health to manage and archive images from the Department of Radiodiagnostics and facilitate data sharing with Galliate Hospital.

One of Siemens Healthcare's highlights of this year's Conference of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO) is IM-RealART™ Solution for adaptive radiotherapy. With IM-RealART, treatment plans for radiotherapy can be adapted especially fast to changes in the shape and position of tumors.

CompuGROUP Holding AG's sales rose to EUR 75.1 million compared to EUR 46.6 million for the corresponding period of 2008, an increase of 61% including organic growth of 20%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at the Koblenz-based firm were up from EUR 11.1 million to EUR 13.2 million, a rise of 19%. Operative cash flow also grew to EUR 10.7 million (Q2/2008: EUR 0).

Scientists at the British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glasgow University will soon be able to further extend their research due to the order of a MAGNETOM® Verio 3T MRI scanner from Siemens Healthcare. The Verio 3T will be used for cardiovascular research into imaging heart muscle injury in heart attack patients; assessing carotid artery circulation on patients at risk from stroke or with a history of stroke; and used for clinical trials and translational research.