5/1/1999
For Immediate Release
HITACHI RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS DESIGN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FOR ITS AIRIS II OPEN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SYSTEM
CONTACT:
Sheldon Schaffer
Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc.
1959 Summit Commerce Park
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087
800.800.3106
330.425.1313
330.425.1410 FAX
info@hitachimed.com
www.hitachimed.com
Twinsburg, Ohio...Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. (HMSA) announced today that it has won the 1999 Medical Design Excellence Award for the company's AIRIS®II open magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The competition recognizes product innovation, design and engineering excellence, end-user benefits, and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing and the healthcare delivery. This annual program is endorsed and administered by The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA, Great Falls, VA).
HMSA has established a leadership position in Open MRI with more than 650 systems installed throughout the United States and 1,700 worldwide. Since the company first popularized the concept of Open MR, it has been the fastest growing segment, and today accounts for about 50 percent of all MRI system sales.
AIRIS II represents a unique "Open-Air" gantry design that is open on all four sides for greater patient comfort and easy access. It also features excellent image quality, owing to the advanced, 0.3T field strength, permanent magnet technology and sophisticated digital electronics. Its powerful gradient system and advanced digital RF system deliver faster, more detailed imaging capabilities.
"AIRIS II represents the ideal blend of comfort design for the patient, high performance imaging for the physician, and efficient, cost effective and reliable operation," said Sheldon Schaffer, Vice President of Marketing for Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. (HMSA, Twinsburg, OH). "The unique open gantry design of the AIRIS II - allowing access to the patient from all sides - has also made it ideally suited for shared service between diagnostic imaging and interventional / intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging applications." The company has joined forces with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio to develop and explore clinical indications for interventional and intraoperative procedures.
Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc. (HMSA) markets the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging products of Hitachi Medical Corporation (HMC), Tokyo, Japan. HMSA has established itself as a major provider of magnetic resonance imaging systems in the United States.
