Nov. 5, 2009 (Business Wire) -- As a part of its commitment to MRI education, Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE), a health IT solutions leader, will be supporting broad-based MRI workshops at RSNA (Radiological Society of North America) 2009. Merge will host 13 CADstream® MRI-CAD hands-on workshops at this year’s annual meeting. Workshops will teach RSNA registrants the principles of interpretation and interventional planning in breast MRI, and interpretation of prostate and liver MRI studies. Additionally, Merge will showcase the CADstream liver application, the first MRI-CAD for liver.

Over 300 RSNA registrants are scheduled to attend CADstream MRI-CAD hands-on workshops. Although the workshops are currently sold out through RSNA, a limited number of tickets are available through www.merge.com/CAD. Workshop faculty includes Jeffrey Maki, MD, PhD, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Joy Darrah, MD, First Hill Diagnostic Imaging, Seattle, WA; Ian Gardiner, MD, Canada Diagnostic Center, Vancouver, BC; Daniel Margolis, MD, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA and David Russell, MD, Inland Imaging, Spokane, WA.

“We are thrilled to have such a strong response to our educational sessions at RSNA,” says Paul Budak, President, Merge CAD. “CADstream is a dedicated MRI-CAD system designed to dramatically improve workflow by automating the analysis, reporting and monitoring of studies. Thousands of clinicians worldwide use CADstream for breast and prostate analysis. Our commitment to training sessions like these helps further adoption, as well as educates radiologists on new applications like liver.”

“MRI is an important diagnostic imaging tool for the evaluation, assessment and management of liver disease,” says Jeffrey Maki, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of Body MRI at the University of Washington in Seattle. “However, the study can be laborious and complex to process and interpret, particularly in patients with end-stage cirrhosis. CADstream’s application for liver MRI provides valuable tools for standardizing study analysis and interpretation, as well as a comprehensive liver-specific reporting feature. The application can dramatically improve workflow, allowing us to more effectively follow lesion progression over time and communicate study results to the referring clinicians.”

“CADstream’s application for liver MRI reinforces our continued vision to deliver the most innovative MRI-CAD in the industry and brings CADstream potential to the millions of liver studies done each year globally,” adds Budak.