In January 2020, Sony launched a new generation of medical image management system NUCLeUS for the Chinese market. The system will provide hospitals with a more user-friendly and simplified digital imaging workflow. It can also be provided anywhere and anytime throughout the hospital as needed. All kinds of information including video and audio.

The intelligent era of medical applications is coming. It is reported that NUCLeUS has a series of new advantages – it can improve the quality of all imaging applications and services in interventional treatment rooms, operating rooms and examination rooms, while enabling users to use real-time transmission capabilities to help clinicians and management teams make more accurate diagnoses .

By improving the efficiency, safety, and quality of operations, and providing tools for better clinical decision-making, NUCLeUS aims to become the “operating system” of medical imaging in hospitals. With secure, high-speed connectivity delivering powerful internal or external computing power, coupled with a signal processing toolbox and new AI technologies, NUCLeUS brings hospital operating room integration and real-time data processing capabilities to new levels of healthcare workflow efficiency.

“Sony has always been committed to developing leading solutions to help medical professionals provide better and more effective services to patients. The newly launched NUCLeUS is a big step forward in this regard.” Director, Healthcare Industry Headquarters, Sony China Professional Systems Group Kenichi Mauri explained, “Today, with the significant increase in connected devices in hospitals, it is now more necessary than ever to have a central imaging ‘operating system’ to collect, store and route medical imaging data, not only for Operating theatres, examination rooms and interventional rooms are spread throughout the hospital network. With NUCLeUS, medical professionals have instant access to the patient information they need, without delay.”

NUCLeUS demonstrates Sony’s continued commitment to investing in the healthcare industry to provide a flexible, forward-looking software environment. It introduces a suite of NUCLeUS smart applications that efficiently utilize the existing hospital network infrastructure, ensuring a quick return on investment.

The next-generation NUCLeUS system offers the following benefits: Workflow-oriented performance built for clinicians; multi-format, multi-standard, and resolution up to 4K; high-quality AV with advanced video switching and routing Transmission and recording capabilities have been further enhanced; image transmission and viewing options have been improved for a smoother imaging workflow throughout the surgical phase, from planning to post-operative patient review.

New educational and lecture broadcasting capabilities to enhance workflows (e.g. 4K upscaling, rotation correction) through the NUCLeUS smart app with real-time communication tools such as Smart Annotation.

IT-Oriented Features: Multi-dimensionally scalable solution that can easily be extended to other rooms or hospital buildings at any time; provides IT administrators with secure and encrypted remote and preventive solution maintenance, including self-monitoring capabilities. Integration-oriented features: Vendor-compatible software-driven platform; better support for third-party applications through commercial APIs and various mechanisms and tools; secure HIS integration, full HL7/DICOM compatibility.

Currently, institutions that have used the NUCLeUS system include: University Hospital Leuven, Belgium (UU Leuven), one of Belgium’s leading teaching hospitals with nearly 2,000 beds and more than 9,000 employees who use NUCLeUS every year in its 34 digital surgeries thousands of surgical procedures performed in the hospital; Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden chose NUCLeUS as their standard IP video platform. The hospital will install 31 NUCLeUS systems to manage video workflows in the operating room, external connections to auditoriums and lecture rooms, and teleconsultation via TV presentations.

The NUCLeUS system launched this time is the result of Sony’s acquisition of the Belgian company eSATURNUS in 2016. The company is deeply involved in the medical field and can provide leading IP video clinical solutions. This expertise, combined with Sony’s imaging and AV/IT technologies, has resulted in continued investment and development in NUCLeUS.