Elscint

Nuclear physics and medical devices

Elscint was founded in 1969 by Avraham Suhami as part of the Elron group, founded by Uzia Galil. The company developed nuclear medicine cameras, detectors, CT scanners and MRI systems. These are devices that build an image of the inside of the body from measurements and computer processing, and are used for medical tests. According to the Israel Innovation Authority, the move into CT built on knowledge the company already had in detectors, mechanics and electronics, and it also required a computer and software to build the image.

CT development and the early listing

According to Elron and the Jerusalem Post, in 1972 Elscint became the first Israeli company whose shares traded on Nasdaq. The Israel Innovation Authority records a team of Technion and Hebrew University graduates, led by Suhami, that developed the company's CT system. According to the same source, the initial system was shown in 1976, and in 1981 the company bought Pfizer's CT business. It also began developing MRI, and the system was launched in 1986. The expansion demanded resources and strained its finances; Suhami left its management in 1985.

Milestone: CT Twin

An article in Diagnostic Imaging from February 1992 describes Elscint's CT Twin: a scanner with detector arrays that make it possible to acquire two slices or two spiral scans at the same time. The innovation was in how the data was acquired, not only in the continuous rotation of the machine. According to the history review in Imaging Technology News and a review in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology (2008), the CT Twin was the first modern scanner with more than one row of detectors, and it came about seven years before the four-slice systems of Toshiba, GE and Siemens. The 1992 article reported that the system was shown as a product in development and that the application for US approval was being prepared. It also described the option of merging adjacent slices acquired at the same time into one image. The product manager explained that two slices from the same exposure also reduce wear on the X-ray tube.

Sale of the businesses in November 1998

Diagnostic Imaging reported that GE completed the purchase of the MRI and nuclear medicine businesses on 25 November 1998 for $100 million. Picker completed the purchase of the CT business on 27 November; the article cited a payment of $265.9 million. When the deal was announced in September, Globes reported $275 million for the CT business. The sales broke up the imaging businesses that made up Elscint and moved them to international companies.

Legacy

According to the Imaging Technology News review, the CT business passed from Elscint to Picker, which in 1999 changed its name to Marconi Medical Systems and was sold to Philips in 2001. The MRI and nuclear medicine business went to GE. Elscint itself continued to exist under the control of Elbit Medical Imaging and dealt mainly in owning hotels and real estate, until it was merged into Elbit Medical Imaging in November 2005 and its shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The CT Twin remains part of the development of multi-slice scanning, even though the name Elscint is no longer an imaging brand.