Firm Sends Ultrasound Images to Doctors Over Web.AN on-call cardiologist sits in his Marin County home late at night, and gets a call from a San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden hospital. A trauma patient just came in, and the doctors want to know if they should crack the patient's chest. The cardiologist has two choices: to make a blind judgement call over the telephone or rush to the hospital, costing the patient invaluable minutes. This true -- and universal -- scenario provided a key impetus in the development of Thousand Oaks-based Intracom Corp., a hybrid Internet and medical technology company. After starting with a business plan jotted on a napkin and four years of technically complex R&D, Intracom has unveiled its flagship product A primary product of a company, which is typically why the company was founded and/or what made it well known. For example, MS-DOS, Windows and the Microsoft Office suite have been flagship products of Microsoft. CorelDRAW is a flagship product of Corel Corporation. . Called MedEcho, the technology transmits full-motion, real-time, diagnostic-quality ultrasound images over the Internet and other digital networks. Now the cardiologist in the above scenario could have an ultrasound zapped to his home for instant review. "We're filling a void," said Fritz Braunberger, Intracom chief executive and co-founder. "We intend to have MedEcho become the standard for the transportation of live images, which hasn't really existed before." The use of comparatively inexpensive and noninvasive ultrasound imaging has risen exponentially over the last several years, suggesting that MedEcho's potential-market is sizeable. So far, 30 health care facilities use a beta-test version of MedEcho, including the Children's Hospital A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children. The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties. in Hollywood and the hospitals at UC Irvine and UC San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . The transmitter/receiver system received Food & Drug Administration approval last year. Intracom is led in its development by a doctor-intensive board of advisers and co-founder Dr. James Calonge. Possible competition may later emerge from ultrasound machinery manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, but according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Braunberger, Intracom has entered discussions with HP and other ultrasound makers about strategic partnerships. Don't pigeonhole pi·geon·hole n. 1. A small compartment or recess, as in a desk, for holding papers; a cubbyhole. 2. A specific, often oversimplified category. 3. The small hole or holes in a pigeon loft for nesting. tr. Intracom as a biotech company, however. It is just as much an Internet company; in fact the company's management team and its financial underwriters primarily categorize it as such. Intracom is developing what it hopes will be the sine qua non [Latin, Without which not.] A description of a requisite or condition that is indispensable. In the law of torts, a causal connection exists between a particular act and an injury when the injury would not have arisen but in online health care professional tools, dubbed MedDesk. The service, to be rolled out over the next several months, will include online record transcription, a medical reference-geared Web search engine See Web search engines. , and online training so that doctors can earn continuing education continuing education: see adult education. continuing education or adult education Any form of learning provided for adults. In the U.S. the University of Wisconsin was the first academic institution to offer such programs (1904). credits over the Web. "We want to offer online services to physicians well beyond what is currently available," Braunberger said. "Standards in the medical industry are hard to uproot, and certainly some (medical) specialties are more receptive to this kind of technology than others, but we have the ability to make a real difference here." Like most Web startups, the company is in an ongoing search for private funding, and is preparing for an initial public offering by midyear. |
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