Bayer Vital, Vital Images Announce Collaboration

The Diagnostic Imaging Business Unit of Bayer Vital GmbH, a Leverkusen, Germany-based provider of contrast agents for diagnostic imaging, and Vital Images Inc., a vendor of software for digital image post-processing in MRI and CT, have signed an agreement to collaborate on activities aimed at introducing radiologists in Germany to the combination of appropriate software and contrast agents. “Rapid developments in advanced visualization software used with state-of-the-art MRI and CT imaging techniques are delivering a huge amount of additional information,” asserts Robert Hite, who heads up Bayer Vital’s Diagnostic Imaging Business Unit in Germany.”This presents evaluating radiologists with the challenge of efficiently selecting the right information from the constantly growing volume of image data.” Hite notes that both image processing software and contrast agents are seen as greatly assisting diagnostic efficiency and, when used in tandem in a more coordinated fashion, could deliver substantial benefits to evaluating radiologists. “If we can coordinate the two techniques better, it could lead to considerable synergies to the benefit of the radiologist,” he explains. Michael H. Carrel, CEO of Vital Images, concurs. “We are excited by our collaboration with Bayer in Germany and feel it will help grow our global business and development activities,” he says.