Merge Healthcare and MEDRAD announce an expansion of their EU Distribution Agreement for CADstream

Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE), a health IT solutions leader, and MEDRAD, a leading provider of medical devices and services for diagnostic imaging, today announced an expansion of their European Union Distribution Agreement for CADstream, a dedicated CAD system for MRI. The expanded Distribution Agreement now allows MEDRAD to distribute CADstream in France, as well as the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy; some of the fastest-growing markets for CAD in the EU.

"MEDRAD has spearheaded the availability of this important technology in Europe,” said Paul Budak, president of Merge CAD (formerly Confirma). "As breast and prostate MRI study volumes increase, physicians are searching for systems that will improve the workflow of time-intensive studies. CADstream has been a market leader in breast MRI CAD in the U.S. for some time, and MEDRAD is a great partner to expand its deployment in the EU."

"CADstream complements the MEDRAD product portfolio and customers in France are requesting the product,” said Anthony Cinalli, executive director, radiology marketing, MEDRAD. “We are happy to now offer CADstream – which is reported to be the standard in breast MRI CAD – to the French market.”

In the 2008 European Markets for Computer Aided Detection report published by Frost and Sullivan, CAD is considered a must-have in 2010 in many EU countries. The Merge team has been ramping up educational efforts for EU radiologists as a result. Workshops on breast MRI have been held in Germany and the U.K., and a course is scheduled for France in November. Education schedules and online registration can be found at http://www.merge.com/cad/benefits/education.aspx.

“CAD has become an integral part of breast MRI study interpretation,” said Dr. Michael Middleton, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, University of San Diego, California (UCSD). Dr. Middleton led the Merge-sponsored Practical Breast MRI with CAD workshop in London in September.