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Yoga could be one way to alleviate burnout symptoms in radiologists, a study published January 31 in JAMA Network Open suggests.
Researchers led by Duygu Sag, PhD, from Dokuz Eylul University Health Campus in Izmir, and Fahri Saatcioglu, PhD, from Blindern in Oslo, Norway, found that a yoga method called Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) reduced psychological distress and burnout and increased wellness in physicians, including radiologists and radiation oncologists. They also highlighted that the program is safe and practical.
“Given the high personal and financial toll of physician burnout worldwide, these findings suggest that SKY could be considered as a preventive measure or used to mitigate stress and burnout in physicians,” Sag, Saatcioglu, and colleagues wrote.
Radiologists and radi...
Erin Stephens.The annual update to the Current Procedural Terminology1 (CPT) for 2024 has 230 new codes, 70 revised codes, and 49 deleted codes. In addition, there are 395 new diagnosis codes contained in the ICD-10-CM2 update, about one-third of them describing new ways to capture accidents and injuries. Although relatively few of these changes will impact radiology practices, it’s essential to know what they are and adjust your practice systems accordingly.
Diagnostic radiology
Coronary Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) with CT:
New Category I code 75580 will replace Category III codes 0501T, 0502T, 0503T, and 0504T to describe noninvasive estimated coronary FFR derived from augmentative AI software analysis of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) data. “Augmentative” means that a physici...
A radiologist’s perception when viewing a complex MR image may be akin to a Major League Baseball (MLB) batter reading the stitches on a fastball, according to researchers exploring exactly how diagnostic interpretations are made.
The baseball metaphor works because eye-tracking studies have shown that radiologists are able to discriminate between normal and abnormal stacks of 26 T2-weighted images from prostate MRI in as little as 48 milliseconds per section, said neuroscientist Robert Alexander, MD, of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, in an interview with AuntMinnie.com.
Similarly, expert batters discriminate between different types of pitches (eg, a curve ball vs. a fastball) in under 200 milliseconds, he noted.
“We know that if you do have a very high level...
ChatGPT shows potential in helping radiologists to identify malignant bone tumors based on CT imaging findings in radiology reports, according to a study published January 22 in the Journal of Bone Oncology.
A team led by Fan Yang, MD, of Capital Medical University in Beijing reported that a few-shot trained ChatGPT model (that is, a model trained to make accurate predictions with only a small number of examples) showed 87% accuracy and 99% sensitivity for flagging malignant bone tumors.
"Our findings highlight the potential of ChatGPT in the diagnosis of benign and malignant bone tumors, offering advantages like enhanced efficiency and a reduction in missed diagnoses," the group wrote.
Bone lesions are commonly identified on CT, and while some are in fact malignant, most present as ben...
High blood pressure has a negative effect on the brain's white matter -- and not just in older adults but in younger ones as well, researchers have reported.
A study conducted by a team led by Junyeon Won, PhD, of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas found that diffusion-weighted MRI brain white matter metrics showed a connection between hypertension and white matter abnormalities. Their results were published March 15 in Hypertension.
"[We found that] high blood pressure and high hypertension stage were associated with [diffusion-weighted MRI white matter brain characteristics]," the group wrote.
High blood pressure in middle-aged and older adults has been linked with microstructural abnormalities in brain white matter. But there's less research about whether this connection al...
The government of British Columbia has secured $32 million Canadian ($23.7 million U.S.) in funding for a new cyclotron facility and radiopharmacy laboratory at the University of British Columbia (UBC), according to news reports.British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said on January 30 that the funds are intended to increase domestic supplies of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine imaging exams, with the new facility expected to expand British Columbia's capacity from 16,000 PET/CT scans per year to 41,000 per year, CTV News Vancouver reported.“Increasing our PET CT scan access enables our physicians to accurately stage our cancers, determine appropriate treatment options and treatment planning,” Dix said. UBC’s Triumf research center will receive $11 million ($8.16 million U...
GE HealthCare (GEHC) and Connecticut-based Hartford HealthCare have extended their "Care Alliance" collaboration through 2030.
Under the collaboration, Hartford HealthCare will upgrade its imaging technology using a phased approach for the acquisition, deployment, and redeployment of CT, PET/CT, MRI, x-ray, nuclear medicine, mammography, ultrasound, and OEC 3D surgical imaging C-arm systems, according to GEHC. Many of the new systems in the collaborative effort will include tested AI and machine-learning software, and patient monitoring, anesthesia, maternal infant care, and diagnostic cardiology technologies are also included.
GEHC technicians will be available in-house to repair and complete maintenance on all equipment within the scope of the collaboration. Some existing MRI, CT, PET...
The January 25 sale of the U.S. Federal Helium Reserve to a private company has raised concern that the deal could potentially impact domestic supply of the element used to cool MRI scanners.
As reported by NBC News, industrial gas supplier Messer was the high bidder for the Federal Helium Reserve, which is in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas and provides an estimated 15% to 30% of the U.S. helium supply. The privatization was mandated by the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 but had been delayed several times.
Messer is very familiar with the Federal Helium Reserve, having run operations at the Crude Helium Enrichment Unit (CHEU) since April 2022 under a temporary agreement in partnership with the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management. The CHEU, which is owned by four companie...
Detecting breast arterial calcifications on routine mammograms could identify women at a higher risk of future cardiovascular disease (CVD), a study published March 13 in Clinical Imaging found.
Researchers led by Shadi Azam, PhD, from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York found links between such calcifications and older age, diabetes, parity, younger age at first birth, and hypertension in women who underwent both screening mammography and cardiac CT angiography (CCTA).
“Additionally, we found that when neither breast arterial calcifications nor coronary arterial calcifications were present, the estimated 10-year risk of developing atherosclerotic CVD was lowest, whereas the highest risk was observed when both [calcifications] were present,” Azam and colleagues wrote.
Breast arterial...
Radiation oncology organizations have come together in an effort to reform Medicare payments for radiation therapy services.
The organizations include the American College of Radiation Oncology (ACRO), the American College of Radiology (ACR), the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The alliance comes in the wake of cuts to Medicare payments for radiation therapy services, which the organizations say threatens patient access to cancer care.
Join Luh, MD, from the ACR and Sameer Keole, MD, president-elect of ASTRO spoke with AuntMinnie.com on the alliance's goals. (Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines)
This study underscores Ga-68 FAPI-PET/CT’s superiority over F-18 FDG-PET/CT for ILC,” the group concluded. A link to the full study can be found here. (Source: AuntMinnie.com Headlines)
Music can be calming for patients undergoing medical imaging, an article published February 7 in Radiography suggests.
A team led by Lina Viera, PhD, from the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute in Portugal found that musical interventions, whether they be classical songs or sounds of nature, can reduce anxiety and heart rate outcomes in patients. This includes imaging procedures such as MRI, mammography, and PET among others.
“Musical intervention arises as a painless, reliable, low-cost, and side-effect-free strategy, presenting imaging departments with a practical means to enhance patient comfort and mitigate anxiety and stress during medical procedures,” the Viera team wrote.
While medical imaging has proven its value in health screening, such procedures can be anxiety-inducing and unc...
Volpara Health Technologies will feature its latest software for breast density, evaluating cancer risk, and mammography quality with Lunit's Insight AI software for early cancer detection at the 2024 National Consortium of Breast Centers (NCBC) conference in Las Vegas.
During a special session on Tuesday, March 19, Tami Hudson, breast health navigator at Singing River Health System in Mississippi will share the clinical impact of making cancer risk assessment standard for every patient receiving a mammogram at four breast centers. Singing River has used Volpara's Risk Pathways cancer risk assessment software to identify patients at elevated risk who are eligible for breast MRI or genetic testing over the past three years.
In late December, Lunit announced it planned to acquire Volpara. ...
Preventive health screenings, including those for screening mammography, have not rebounded to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, a new study published February 2 in JAMA Health Forum found.
Researchers led by Rishi Wadhera, MD, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that eligible adults were significantly less likely to receive breast cancer screening and other types of health screening in 2021 compared with 2019.
“These findings support the need for public health efforts to increase the use of preventive health screenings among eligible U.S. adults,” Wadhera and co-authors wrote.
Previous research has explored how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected trends in preventive health screenings in the U.S., including those regarding breast cancer. The first few months of the...
Eleven medical associations have released guidance on the use of PET/CT and SPECT/CT for patients with cardiovascular (CV) infections.
The recommendations could improve patient care, as current clinical tools are often insufficient in complicated cases, noted lead author of the guidance Jamieson Bourque, MD, of the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville. The document was published jointly March 11 in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, Clinical Infectious Diseases, the Heart Rhythm Journal, and JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.
“The stakes are high with cardiovascular infection because the incidence is increasing and there is associated high morbidity and mortality,” Bourque said in an Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) news release.
Valvular infective endocar...
Deep learning could improve real-time lung ultrasound interpretation, according to a study published January 29 in Ultrasonics.
Researchers led by Lewis Howell, PhD, from the University of Leeds in the U.K. found that a deep learning model trained on lung ultrasound allowed for segmentation and characterization of artifacts on images when tested on a phantom model.
“Machine learning and deep learning present an exciting opportunity to assist in the interpretation of lung ultrasound and other pathologies imaged using ultrasound,” Howell and colleagues wrote.
Lung ultrasound in recent years has been highlighted in research as a safe, cost-effective imaging modality for evaluating lung health, and the COVID-19 pandemic saw lung ultrasound utilized more as a noninvasive imaging method.
...
The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) has announced the latest recipients of its Clinician Educator Development program for radiologists.
The Clinician Educator Development program class of 2024 includes 30 clinical educators of medical imaging who have collectively received more than $40,000 in grant funding from ARRS’ own Roentgen Fund. This year’s program intensive will be held on Saturday, May 4 during the annual ARRS meeting in Boston, MA.
Each year, program recipients are selected to receive a $1,800 travel grant to attend a specialized workshop during the ARRS annual meeting. The workshop focuses on new and emerging pedagogical tools while improving already acquired clinical acumen, with over half of the syllabus consisting of hands-on learning.
Chairpersons and directors ...
In the United States, approximately 10% of women are contacted for further testing after an initial breast cancer screening. Of that 10%, however, only 0.5% receive a cancer diagnosis. That leaves 9.5% of tested women with a false-positive exam — which is often accompanied by undue financial and emotional burdens.1LG Business Solutions has set out to reduce the risk of this hardship with advanced medical monitor solutions. With the latest high-end medical display technology from LG, physicians can analyze radiological and mammogram images with complete confidence. LG’s powerful diagnostic display solutions act as a second set of eyes for medical professionals — offering extraordinary image clarity, enhanced color reproduction, and better visuals to improve patient care. Keep reading ...
Mark Crockett, MD, chief medical officer at TeleDaaS.Americans today can expect to live long lives. However, increased longevity has brought on a troubling rise in chronic disease, diminishing the quality of life later in life. A 2018 study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that more than a quarter of U.S. adults now battle multiple chronic conditions, up from 22% in 2001. We may be living longer, but more Americans struggle through these extra years in poor health — presenting a pressing need to extend not just lifespans but “healthspans.”
An emerging field of precision radiopharmaceuticals brings new optimism to this mission, revolutionizing cancer care. Precision radiopharmaceuticals accurately target tumors while minimizing damage to healthy ti...
Deep-learning models could have potential as predictive tools for breast cancer prognosis, a study published January 17 in Clinical Breast Cancer has found.
A team led by Junqi Han, MD, from the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University in China found that its model combining data from mammography images, ultrasound images, and other characteristics performed well in predicting disease-free survival of breast cancer.
“The combination of mammography and ultrasound images improved… performance for predicting breast cancer prognosis compared with single medical imaging modalities,” Han and colleagues wrote.
AI and deep learning continue to be explored by radiologists for their potential to improve breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Han and colleagues focused on the latter for the...
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We need to improve the headers on our radiology reports. Does anybody have any examples that I can look at? If you do, please send them to me directly at tomclaytonmd@gmail.com. Thanks a lot!
Thanks so much for the post on radRounds facebook page. We will continue to share updates on future versions of Viewbox as well as other product offerings. Best regards,
Seth J Crapp MD, CMO Viewbox Holdings
Thank :-)
Thank you, I plan to upload more parts from my book (radiology positioning)
http://www.radrounds.com/video/aspyra-pacs-viewer-performance
This video shows performance improvements Aspyra was able to take advantage of with their software, thanks to Matrox Xenia Series hardware & SDK. Aspyra is using the Xenia Pro in their system, which is our flagship product. Xenia Series is shipping with many new PACS workstations & this board also makes a great upgrade for older workstations since it has built-in backward & forward compatibility with the greatest number of medical & non medical displays, including many older proprietary models.
Another recent product from Matrox is the RAD LPX - while this board doesn't power all the same resolutions as Xenia Series, it is available in a low-profile PCI form factor (as well as PCI Express) which may fit better in some systems. You can get more info on all of our products designed for medical imaging workstations here: www.matroxmed.com.
Thanks for your interest!
Yeah I a very happy with the new version of Radiopaedia.org, still a couple of bugs I would like to iron out before I tell everyone (and I mean everyone) about it... Everything takes longer than initially thought huh...
Will also be advertising for new section editor posts soon...
Thanks for your support.
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