i-CAT Brochure

Well...I just sent out 200 of the i-CAT brochures that ISI sent me a few weeks ago, along with a bi-fold brochure about the i-CAT services offered at my lab, highlighting the i-CAT Vision software and the 3DVR annimated models we offer. PLUS, next week I am sending out followup postcards inviting 100 select doctors to a Saturday morning seminar that I am hosting at the Rib Company (where we had our May user group meeting). I'm planning on a 3 hour demonstration of the i-CAT, 3DVR and i-CAT Vision software, with time after lunch to do some "hands on" training with those who brought their laptops. I'm hoping to get 20-30 responses. What do you think? Will people come on a Saturday morning in June? I'll keep you posted.

It seems like the time is right for this technology to break out. What do you think?

Filters

At the recent users meeting filters were mentioned. If people could let us know what filter's they are using for TMJ's, implants, etc.

i-CAT Vision

If you are unfamilar with i-CAT Vision, here are a couple of screen shots from it. You can download it at: http://www.imagingsciences.com/downloads.htm. Get it and start playing around with it. It is very cool and it's free! There is a new version in the works that should be available soon. In the mean time, there's lots to do with the current version.

One of the best things is that with i-CAT Vision, the doctor can review the full volume in axial, sagittal and coronal views. In my opinion, by giving the refering doctor all the data PLUS the viewing software, I am off the hook if anything comes up later that could have been discovered in the initial review of the scan. The doctor has all the data and a means to view it. That would seem to take me out of the loop. (whew!)

Any comments?

Burn i-CAT Vision, PDFs, DICOM, etc. on ONE CD - (part 1)

At the recent user meeting there was some discussion about having to burn 2 CDs; one with i-CAT Vision and one with DICOM data, Xoran data, plans, PDFs, 3DVR models, etc. After looking into this a little, I've discovered that it's pretty simple to put everything on one CD, assuming you don't exceed the limit of the disk.

When you create a CD through i-CAT Vision, it includes the converted data for your patient as well as 3 additional files. These files are:

Autorun.inf
iCATVision.exe
Runthis.exe

Copy these files from a CD and place them in a folder called Autorun (or whatever you want to call it) on your desktop. When you burn your data CD (not the iCAT Vision CD), include the patient data folder that was created by iCAT Transfer (on my computer that folder is in C:\iCATVision\iCATVisionroot\) PLUS the 3 files from the Autorun folder.

When you put this CD in your drive, it will automatically run iCATVision, but it will also have all the other data on it which can be found by exploring the disk.

I titled this "part 1" because I have an additional way to do this where the disk lets you choose whether you want to run iCAT Vision, view the PDFs, or run the 3DVR models. I don't want to get into that unless this post generates some interest.

User meeting Sunday, April 7, Costa Mesa

Twenty-one i-CAT users met together at the Newport Rib Company in Costa Mesa on Sunday, May 7, for a day of sharing information as well as food and friendship. The facility was perfect, the food was fabulous, the service splendid, the information challenging & informative, and as always, the friendship was... well... if you've ever been to one of these... YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT ABOUT!!! Special thanks go out to Eric for the fruit and bagels, Tina for the great service, Randy for his expertise (and for our lunch), Liz for her wealth of knowledge, Zack for his presentation, Fran for letting us use his banquet room for the whole day, and for all those who stayed in town an extra day just to talk about their i-CAT. Our next meeting will be at the fall convention in Montery. In the mean time, keep using this blog to stay in touch and to stay up on the latest developments in this ever changing field.