Toshiba Partnership

Originally Released: September 25, 1996
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MEDICAL CENTER/TOSHIBA PARTNERSHIP FORMED TO ENHANCE PATIENT CARE AND RESEARCH

The University of Maryland Medical Center¹s Department of Radiology has formed a partnership with the Toshiba Corporation to develop an international training center and embark on research and patient care using the most advanced imaging technology. The partnership was announced in conjunction with the opening on September 25 of a new Angiography/Interventional Radiology Center, which includes three state-of-the-art digital angiography suites, an all-digital multi-purpose room, and a 10-bed unit for patients in the hospital's new Gudelsky building. A fourth new angiography suite has been installed in the Shock Trauma Center.

"The partnership with Toshiba will help us to provide our patients with the best available technology to diagnose and treat serious medical conditions, ranging from vascular problems and cancer to neurological disorders and traumatic injury. It also ensures that we will be on the cutting edge of research into the next century," says Philip A. Templeton, M.D., Professor and Chairman of Diagnostic Radiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center.

"Radiology is often thought of exclusively as a service for providing a diagnosis, but with technological advances in imaging equipment, we are increasingly able to treat problems in addition to diagnosing them, without major surgery. These problems include brain aneurysms and obstructed blood vessels," Dr. Templeton says.

The medical center is the first in the U.S. to start using the Toshiba MAX-1000A digital multi-purpose system, with a special table that turns 360 degrees and tilts 90 degrees up and down. The system can perform a wide range of procedures and provides great flexibility in positioning patients for exams.

The new equipment at the medical center also includes the Toshiba Aspire CI (continuous imaging) CT scanner. This system, which displays CT images in real time, allows doctors to be as precise as possible as they perform a biopsy. Such real time images had not been available before. The University of Maryland Medical Center is one of only two university hospitals in the U.S. to use that CT scanner.

"Toshiba is very proud of and certainly appreciates the fine relationship it shares with an institution of the stature of the University of Maryland," says Masamichi Katsurada, president, Toshiba America Medical Systems. "Its research in vascular and CT continuous imaging, the use of our products, and the extensive feedback that the medical center provides regarding our diagnostic imaging equipment, is of great value as we strive to develop systems that help healthcare providers deliver quality, efficient patient care."

"This is the first international training center we have planned with a major U.S. teaching hospital. We intend to send our customers from around the world to the University of Maryland Medical Center for training. There, doctors and technologists could gain excellent experience in a clinical environment with a large volume of patients, which is important to us," says Katsurada.

After training, University of Maryland Medical Center specialists will be available for follow-up questions and advice, including consultations during which images could be transported via telephone lines.

Regarding the research component of the partnership, Toshiba is supporting a vascular research program at the medical center, to investigate new catheters, contrast agents, and techniques. Plans call for building a large glass-blown model of the body¹s vascular system to help doctors learn about new procedures. Research is also underway on new applications and improved interventional techniques for CT continuous imaging. One example would be developing a method to destroy a liver tumor without surgery by injecting a drug directly at the tumor site.

A striking attraction at the Angiography/Interventional Radiology Center is a Partnership Wall, measuring 36 feet by 8 feet, with removable glass panels. It will display information about advances in medical imaging and will be of interest to visitors and patients. The center¹s decorative theme focuses on Baltimore and includes two large oil paintings depicting day and night versions of the University of Maryland downtown campus by Baltimore artist Pauli Zmolek.

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This page was last updated on: March 12, 2008.