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March 2009 Blog Posts (31)

Drug-eluting stents reduce repeat treatment in peripheral arterial disease

March 31, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Drug-eluting stents reduce repeat treatment in peripheral arterial disease By H.A. Abella Drug-eluting stents provide a significantly higher patency rate after three years in patients with critical limb ischemia compared with bare metal stents. Findings of a recent study suggest that drug-eluting stents can reduce also postintervention treatment rates. Critical limb ischemia has reached epidemic proportions, leading to nearly a quarter million amputations and… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 31, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

UPDATE -- X-ray contrast case: Bracco wins $11.4 M in damages from GE

March 30, 2009 DiagnosticImaging.com. UPDATE -- X-ray contrast case: Bracco wins $11.4 M in damages from GE By Greg Freiherr Buoyed by last week's U.S. District Court decision, Bracco Diagnostics is anything but shy about saying GE Healthcare used "false and misleading advertising and marketing" to gain an advantage for its Visipaque x-ray contrast agent over Bracco's Isovue product. But how -- or even whether -- the company will use the legal finding in its future marketing of Isovue is a… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 30, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Congress intervenes to force continued nuclear medicine funding at DOE

March 27, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Congress intervenes to force continued nuclear medicine funding at DOE By James Brice Nuclear medicine advocates enlisting the help of Congress have forced the Department of Energy to continue to fund basic research for radioisotope and imaging instruments design, despite DOE plans to use its scientists to develop nuclear imaging tools for biological and environmental applications. At the urging of SNM, Congress included language in the fiscal 2009… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 27, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Website Review: TopRadiologistJobs.com

radRounds (NEW YORK) -- We recently came across a novel and interesting job search tool for radiologists. Enter into the market, TopRadiologistJobs (http://www.topradiologistjobs.com)

It is a non-profit service that is simply an aggregator. It takes all the job postings from all the web resources/job sites (i.e. ACR radiologist job boards, RSNA radiologist job boards, etc) using job search engines Indeed.com and SimplyHired.com. All the… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on March 26, 2009 at 7:42pm — No Comments

Radiologist slapped with $2 million fine for billing fraud blames recordkeeping

March 26, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Radiologist slapped with $2 million fine for billing fraud blames recordkeeping By James Brice A radiologist implicated in one of the largest billing fraud cases in Medicare history is blaming poor recordkeeping for a federal investigation and prosecution that led him and his partner to a $2 million settlement with Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Settlement terms were announced March 25. To settle Medicare's false claims… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 26, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Decision-analytic model guides cervical cancer treatment

March 25, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Decision-analytic model guides cervical cancer treatment By Rebekah Moan MRI and/or PET/CT can help physicians determine appropriate treatment for cervical cancer patients as well as prevent unnecessary therapy, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Treatment of patients with cervical cancer involves two options. The first is surgery with or without postoperative adjuvant chemoradiation (chemotherapy and radiation therapy).… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 25, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Drug-resistant TB shows abnormalities on CT

March 24, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Drug-resistant TB shows abnormalities on CT By Rebekah Moan Micronodules, tree-in-bud appearance, consolidations, cavities, bronchiectasis, and lobular consolidations are frequent CT abnormalities of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Dr. Eun Sun Lee from the Seoul National Hospital in Korea and colleagues made these determinations by retrospective review of microbiological results and drug sensitivity tests of 260 patients. They had been diagnosed with… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 24, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Featured Website Encore: RadiologyArt.com by Satre Stuelke

radRounds (NEW YORK) -- A few months back, we featured a website and artwork at RadiologyArt.com - a talented artist turned medical student (bound for radiology, we might add) has gotten the well-deserved recognition by the New York Times in this week's Science section. Very cool, simply said. Satre's work made it to the front page of the NYTimes.com website tonight. Here is a screen capture.

Visit his website at… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on March 23, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Minority groups join outcry over CMS’ rejection of CTC screening coverage

March 23, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Minority groups join outcry over CMS’ rejection of CTC screening coverage By H.A. Abella Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have joined the ranks of CT colonography advocates to pressure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reverse a proposal to deny reimbursement for CTC screening. Proponents argue that the policy could widen existing colon cancer screening inequalities. In a Proposed Decision Memorandum issued Feb. 11, CMS suggested that… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 23, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Interventional Radiology Enhances Childbirth Safety

radRounds (San Diego) -- At the 2009 SIR meeting, interventional radiologists promisingly reveal findings that two significant new clinical research studies make childbirth safer.

Read full article here.

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on March 20, 2009 at 2:43pm — No Comments

CT computer-aided volumetry fast tracks pneumothorax measurement

March 20, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. CT computer-aided volumetry fast tracks pneumothorax measurement Rebekah Moan Potential deadly traumatic pneumothoraces can be measured in the emergency room with a computer-aided volumetric technique that helps move patients from diagnosis to treatment many times faster than conventional visual assessments of the condition with multislice CT. The new approach, developed at Massachusetts General Hospital, has potential implications for the 30% to 39% of chest… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 20, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Section Editor positions available

Hi guys, just thought I would let you know that Radiopaedia.org is now accepting applications for the next round of

Section Editor Positions. It is a great low stress way to enhance your CV while doing a little study. At the same time you are contributing to one of the fastest growing collaborative radiology resource online. Preference will be given to existing… Continue

Added by Frank Gaillard on March 19, 2009 at 6:51pm — No Comments

‘Detection’ takes on new meaning at Madoff-connected radiology center

March 19, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. ‘Detection’ takes on new meaning at Madoff-connected radiology center By James Brice A small part of the answer to the question about what happened to the $65 billion bilked from investors in the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme may lie in a Hoboken, NJ, diagnostic imaging service. Ruth Madoff, wife of the disgraced New York financier, purchased a 21.25% share in Hoboken Radiology five years ago, according to Bloomberg News. Madoff is one of nine investors who own… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 19, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

A word of advice...

to radiologists & hospitals in India

THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING ULTRASOUND SCANNERS FROM A FAMOUS GERMAN COMPANY!!

Their equipment may be good, but the reliability is questionable compared to equivalent American & Japanese ultrasound scanners.

Read the fine print in their service contract.

If possible, insist on and get a 2 or 3 year extended warranty / free service window at the time of purchase.

Please email me if you… Continue

Added by Vijay Sadasivam on March 19, 2009 at 2:15am — No Comments

Cognition-enhancing modafinil shows addictive properties

March 18, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Cognition-enhancing modafinil shows addictive properties By James Brice Students may think they are getting smarter from the cognitive boost possible with prescription drug modafinil. They need to learn, however, that claims about its lack of serious side effects are wrong. A National Institutes of Health study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2009;301[11]:1148-1154) used PET to demonstrate that modafinil can be… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 18, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Madoff: A Radiology Partner??

radRounds (NEW YORK) -- Apparently, Bernie Madoff didn't leave any stone unturned. He also has invested his (stolen) money into radiology practices.

According to Bloomberg News (3/17/09): "Assets sought by prosecutors include the Madoffs’ interest in Hoboken Radiology LLC. Ruth Madoff is one of nine members of Hoboken Radiology, a radiology practice in Hoboken, New Jersey, said Gary Berger, its administrator. She invested in the business in 2004, Berger said. He declined to say how… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on March 18, 2009 at 1:19am — No Comments

Groups challenge plan to slash imaging technology payments

March 16, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Groups challenge plan to slash imaging technology payments By H.A. Abella Access to Medical Imaging Coalition, a partnership among various professional and trade political interests, has rebutted a proposal by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to change the formula for calculating practice expense relative value units for advanced imaging exams. Coalition members argue that MedPAC's plan is based on flawed information. They point to an independent… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 16, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Anonymized Radiology Forums launched per member request!

We have launched the radRounds Anonymized Radiology Forums per many many requests from our users. You can visit the
anonymized radiology forum here! Check it out and let us know what you think.

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on March 15, 2009 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Second look at x-ray, CT exams could reduce diagnostic errors

March 13, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Second look at x-ray, CT exams could reduce diagnostic errors By James Brice Simple physician checklists, diagnostic decision-support systems, or second looks at medical imaging exams could help to reduce the estimated 40,000 to 80,000 hospital deaths in the U.S. from diagnostic errors. Writing for the March 11 Journal of the American Medical Association, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine physicians Dr. David Newman-Toker and Dr. Peter Pronovost… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 13, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Report from SIR: Interventionalists assess fluorescing stem cells to treat peripheral vascular disease

March 12, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Report from SIR: Interventionalists assess fluorescing stem cells to treat peripheral vascular disease By H.A. Abella Using biotechnology developed from fireflies and seaweed, Johns Hopkins researchers are developing radiopaque stem cells for targeted delivery of therapy in patients with peripheral arterial disease. The technique may allow guidance and tracking of stem cell injections meant to grow new blood vessels and offer a way to confirm therapy response.… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on March 12, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments