Each issue we bring you one product that is gaining acceptance in the radiology sphere and give an insight into its applications and benefits. This time we trained our scanner on Myrian, a multimodality workspace launched by French firm, Intrasense and brought to India by Modi Medicare, a renowned Indian company dealing in surgical and medical imaging products.
Myrian is a full-fledged multimodality workspace/workstation with an interface and features which can reportedly handle high level functions and protocols to optimise clinical workflows and boost productivity. A comprehensive set of clinical modules are also available as options for liver, lung, colon, vessels, breast, heart, vessels and brain, and these different modules, based on different necessities of daily routine for each department, can ease the planning work and yet be accurate.
The makers of this product claim that the workstation’s applications are not only very accurate but are very user friendly as well. It reportedly also has a fast learning curve and additionally do not require very sophisticated hardware. It can be loaded on regular laptop computers – making workstations inexpensive and very portable. These softwares are also Cella, FDA, CE and ISO 13485 certified. Thus they claim that it is a key asset for radiologists, surgeons, oncologists and specialists to:
- Improve the efficiency of image reading and the accuracy of diagnosis
- Support surgery and therapy planning and assessment
- Allow the early and accurate evaluation of a treatment
Patrick Mayette, Co Founder and General Manager of Intrasense says, “Myrian is the first true multimodality workstation in the market with the capacity to combine, compare and process images from several modalities simultaneously. This is essential to allow the comprehensive analysis of patient information, particularly in chronic diseases. Myrian is also a very versatile and customisable platform that perfectly adapts itself to the exact needs of each user and each hospital.”
But the best reference for any product are its users, and with a view to know more about the software, its effectiveness, and its benefits, we spoke to some doctors and radiologists who have introduced this workstation into their practice and have been using it regularly to streamline their operations.
Users speak
Jupiter Hospital, a multi-speciality tertiary care hospital in Thane has introduced Myrian in their set up. Dr Nikhil Kamat, Consulting Radiologist, Jupiter Hospital and Imaging Centre has been using it regularly for an year. He opines, “The software helps us to get volumetry and details of vascular anatomy fast and precisely, a process which would be cumbersome, labour intensive, time consuming and less precise without it.” He adds, “The direct volume acquisition and colouring of the portal and haepatic venous radicals helps us to give precise results for transplant surgeons.”
Medanta-The Medicity, New Delhi has also adopted Myrian and their Sr Consultant Radiologist & Head CT Scan, Dr Tarun Piplani is all praise for the software. He has been using the software for 18 months and claims, “Intrasense from Myrian has revolutionised the field of 3D post processing in medical imaging. Its various applications can be run even from a laptop or a desktop, providing cutting edge technology to radiologists anytime, anywhere. The ease of operation of this system has simplified the procedure, particularly in liver, cardiac and neuro imaging.” “We, at Medanta – The Medicity are using this system particularly for the Institute of Liver Transplantation and Regenerative Medicine. Myrian is used to solve complex issues in liver surgeries, for various tumours and in liver transplant workup. It is being routinely used to perform virtual surgery in liver cancer patients and in liver donors,” he elaborates.
| User ratings scale: 1-5 ( 5 being the highest) | |||||
| Name of the Doctor | Technology | Durability | Image quality | User-friendliness | Value for money |
| Dr Nikhil Kamat | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Dr Tarun Piplani | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Dr Rahul Kakodkar | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Rahul Kakodkar, Senior Consultant Surgeon, Suasth Liver Centre, Institute of Liver Disease, Oncology & Transplantation is another user of Myrian. He reiterates the view offered by the other users and states that the software’s speedy reporting as opposed to manual methods minimises pre-operative stay for patients. Easy fusion between phases and studies, versatility with CT and MRI studies and the ability to review the images in the operation theatre that adds to safety and accuracy, are some other features of the software that has impressed Dr Kakodkar who has been using it for around two years now.
Jupiter Hospital’s Dr Kamat further informed about the operational benefits that he has accrued from Myrian and said that without the workstation the CT technician can take two to three hours post processing to get results but this times gets reduced to half an hour with Myrian. He also claimed that the results are more precise, and volumes are more accurate despite the reduced time.
Dr Piplani agrees with these views and adds, “This system has an intelligent software which has drastically cut down the time required to perform analysis of complex cases by virtual surgery. The time consuming technique of volumetry is now possible with only few clicks on the laptop. Plus, portability of the system means a lot to the radiologist who can now perform 3D post-processing of their cases while on the move, emergencies can be tackled from home and urgent cases can be done from outstation while attending conferences.” He further elaborates on the unique features of the software, “The ease of operability has made this system very popular amongst my surgeon colleagues and the imaging technologists. Thousands of images generated from a single imaging study, be it CT scan or MRI, are easily handled and converted into 3D coloured maps and videos which are easily understood by the surgeons in their operation theatres, helping them in performing complex surgeries with utmost confidence.”
Dr Kakodkar finds that Myrian’s quick automatic liver volume measurements, elegant 3D displays and multiple 3D modes, simulation tools that are easy to use, demarcation of liver vascular territories and vessel extraction are its best features that give it an edge over its counterparts.
The verdict
Thus, while the users have found different uses and benefits from Myrian they are all united in the opinion that it is a very useful product and has helped them to streamline as well as improve their operations. It gets a high score on technology, user-friendliness, performance and image quality and but a slightly lower score on cost-effectiveness, which seems to be its only detractor.
