MINNEAPOLIS, March 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vital Images, Inc. , a leading provider of enterprise-wide advanced visualization and analysis solutions, said today that it is pleased that the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS) decided to make no changes to national reimbursement coverage of cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and will continue to allow local contractors to determine coverage. This innovative procedure combines a CT scan with advanced visualization and analysis solutions to generate interior and exterior images of the arteries and heart, within seconds and noninvasively.
"We commend CMS for making this decision," said Michael H. Carrel, Vital Images president and chief executive officer. "CCTA gives physicians valuable information that can help them diagnose patients arriving in the emergency room with chest pain, as well as evaluate difficult cases of artery blockage that require intervention. Providing insurance coverage for CCTA procedures has the potential to positively impact the quality of patient care and save lives by providing diagnostic information quickly."
Vital Images enterprise advanced visualization solution offers physicians a comprehensive application for analyzing cardiovascular images. The package includes tools for coronary vessel analysis, cardiac functional analysis, calcium scoring, peripheral vessel analysis and electrophysiology. Advancements in these cardiovascular applications are a primary reason the company's recent release of Vitrea(R) 4.0 received the 2007 Best New Radiology Software Award from AuntMinnie.com. The software tools are fast and easy to use, and provide anywhere, anytime accessibility to key information and the ability to access the workflow throughout the healthcare enterprise.
Vital Images showcased its enterprise cardiovascular solution at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) meeting held in Vienna, Austria March 7-11, 2008. Tony DeFrance, M.D., of the Cardiovascular CT Angiography Education Center in San Francisco and a faculty member at Stanford University Medical Center, read the case in front of the entire ECR audience at its first annual "face-off" among providers of advanced visualization software. "Vital Images offers the easiest to learn and use enterprise-wide tools for reading cardiovascular images," commented DeFrance after reading the cardiovascular case using Vital Images software.
About Vital Images
Vital Images, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is a leading provider of enterprise-wide advanced visualization and analysis software solutions. The company's technology gives radiologists, cardiologists, oncologists and other medical specialists, time-saving productivity and communications tools that can be accessed throughout the enterprise and via the Web for easy use in the day-to-day practice of medicine. Vital Images also has offices in Beijing, China and Den Haag, the Netherlands. For more information, visit http://www.vitalimages.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are intended to enjoy the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by that Act. These statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause results to differ materially from those projected, including but not limited to dependence on market growth, challenges associated with international expansion, the ability to predict product, customer and geographic sales mix, regulatory approvals, the timely introduction, availability and acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, dependence on major customers, the ability to successfully manage operating costs, fluctuations in quarterly results, approval of products for reimbursement and the level of reimbursement, and other factors detailed from time to time in Vital Images' SEC reports, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. Vital Images encourages you to consider all of these risks, uncertainties and other factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this release. As a result of these matters, changes in facts, assumptions not being realized or other circumstances, the company's actual results may differ materially from the expected results discussed in the forward-looking statements contained in this release. The forward-looking statements made in this release are made only as of the date of this release, and the company undertakes no obligation to update them to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Vital Images, Inc.
