Press release

Versailles, September 10 , 2007

With a range of connectors dedicated to the medical industry, FCI meets the needs for increasing digital imaging services

Many high-tech industries require increasing levels of functionality and flexibility. It is even more relevant for the medical industry, whose applications are in many cases nothing but critical.

Continuous improvements in the medical imaging segment, in particular, are due to the availability of more and more accurate and easy-to-use technologies that benefit to an ageing population, both in hospitals and at home.

The increasing demands in new medical imaging equipments are driven mainly by investments in scanning systems by hospitals, replacement of outpatient older facilities, replacement of conventional analog machines with digital x-ray systems, growth in diagnostic ultrasound equipments and the trend to combine different technologies within the same equipment, like CT* and MRI*.

According to Bharat Book Bureau, an aggregator of global business intelligence with an on-demand collection of published market researches (http://www.bharatbook.com/), demand for medical imaging products will expand 3.9 percent annually to $15 billion in 2010. Equipment will make up $10.4 billion of this total, with the balance posted by consumables and accessories. CT (computed tomography) scanners will generate the largest demand among medical imaging equipment through 2010 and beyond.

FCI has developed a range of connectors that meet these needs of increasingly small, solid and high-speed components dedicated to medical diagnostics. Among their recognized solutions for the scanning applications, the MEG-Array® High Density Mezzanine System stands out. MEG-Array® is now considered a connector of choice for many of the leading medical digital imaging equipment manufacturers, in both hospital systems and portable scans. It provides the features needed for MRI, CT, and other imaging applications to achieve real time, higher resolution imaging. Used to connect the photo diode within the scanner, MEG-Array®’s higher density allows a greater number of slices, resulting in more accurate imaging. Additionally, MEG-Array® delivers outstanding mechanical and electrical performance, achieving data rate of up to 10 Gb/s.

FCI offers a wide range of connectors specifically for imaging applications, but also for patient monitoring, ultrasound equipment and defibrillators. On top, FCI offers a complete range of medical cable assemblies – from high-density flexible foil jumpers up to high current IO solutions.

* Definition of acronyms:

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): a non-invasive method used to render images of the inside of an object. It is primarily used in medical imaging to demonstrate pathological or other physiological alterations of living tissues

CT scan (Computed Tomography): a medical imaging method employing tomography where digital geometry processing is used to generate a three-dimensional image of the internals of an object from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images taken around a single axis of rotation.

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