The major acquisition by Philips three months ago of the US-based Spectranetics Corporation was significant enough. Spectranetics is a leader in vascular intervention systems but when that deal is put into the context of another major Philips acquisition, this time the purchase nearly three years ago of the Volcano Corporation, another US-based company leading in the field of catheter- based imaging in cardiovascular applications, it is clear that Philips is getting serious about the image-guided therapy field.