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July 2008 Blog Posts (81)

Palpation fails to reduce breast cancer mortality

July 16, 2008 Palpation fails to reduce breast cancer mortality H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Experience compiled from nearly half a million women suggests that breast self-examination has a negligible effect in reducing breast cancer-related deaths. The practice may even be putting an unnecessary strain on breast care resources, according to researchers in Denmark. Reputed medical institutions as well as patient advocacy groups… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 16, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

iTunes plays radiology storage management song

July 16, 2008 iTunes plays radiology storage management song Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the hidden powers of iTunes is its ability to organize and manage portable document format files as conveniently and efficiently as it does music files, according to researchers in China. PDFs are widely used as a standard file format for electronic publications as well as for online medical documents. "Unfortunately, there is a lack… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 16, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Fewer students take ARRT exam

July 15, 2008 Fewer students take ARRT exam Yomi Wrong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The number of students taking radiography and radiation therapy examinations for the first time slowed in 2007, signaling that educational programs are scaling back admissions and the pool of qualified technologists is meeting practice demand. Only nuclear medicine saw a sharp increase — 17.1 % over 2006 — although those numbers too are expected to decline,… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 15, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Congress overrides White House veto of physician payment bill

July 15, 2008 Congress overrides White House veto of physician payment bill H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- President Bush vetoed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 Tuesday, giving the green light to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to start processing physician payment claims with a 10.6% cut. But backers of the legislation rapidly orchestrated a response in the House and Senate to… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 15, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Use of nighthawk services fails to match expectations

July 14, 2008 Use of nighthawk services fails to match expectations Yomi Wrong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contrary to concerns about teleradiology encroachment, a Yale University survey finds that use of external after-hours services accounts for a small percentage of radiology practices' total interpretations. Interpretation by foreign-trained radiologists is not widespread. The survey, published in the June issue of the Journal of the… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 14, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

White House makes moves to veto Medicare physician payment bill

July 11, 2008 White House makes moves to veto Medicare physician payment bill James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- White House officials urged Republican senators Friday to reverse their support of a Senate bill that would set aside an impending 10.6% physician payment cut from Medicare, allowing President Bush to veto the legislation. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (HR 6331) passed the Senate July 9 by a… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 11, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

SNM panel finds no easy path to expand molybdenum-99 supplies

July 11, 2008 SNM panel finds no easy path to expand molybdenum-99 supplies James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A draft report from an SNM expert panel has found no quick fix for the medical imaging community's molybdenum-99m supply problems. Its results suggest that North American healthcare providers will continue to depend on Canada's National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, ON, for most of the precursor isotope of… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 11, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

US Political and Medicine News: Senate Passes Medicare Physician Payment Legislation 69-30

Senate Passes Medicare Physician Payment Legislation 69-30

On July 9 the Senate overcame partisan gridlock and passed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331) by a tally of 69-30. This vote total represents the necessary support to override a potential veto by President Bush. Several senators switched their stance from the last time the Senate voted on identical legislation July 26. Intense lobbying and grassroots by the physician community and… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on July 10, 2008 at 6:42am — No Comments

Senate passes Medicare bill to avert physician payment cuts

July 10, 2008 Senate passes Medicare bill to avert physician payment cuts H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Senate passed key legislation July 9 that forestalls a 10.6% cut in Medicare physician payments following intense lobbying from patient and physician advocacy groups over the Independence Day Congressional recess. The 69-30 tally in favor of the bill makes it veto-proof. The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 10, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

Ultrasound leads conservative treatment of calvarial dermoids

July 9, 2008 Ultrasound leads conservative treatment of calvarial dermoids Wendy Despain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Calvarial dermoids and epidermoids in young pediatric patients can be monitored using ultrasound alone instead of x-ray based imaging, according to German researchers. Besides being safer and cheaper, sonography could rule out unnecessary surgeries. CT and MR represent the current imaging standard for the examination of these… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 9, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

MDS files $1.6 billion suit over abandoned Mo-99 reactors

July 9, 2008 MDS files $1.6 billion suit over abandoned Mo-99 reactors James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MDS has filed a $1.6 billion breach of contract lawsuit against Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the Canadian government for their decision in May to halt development of a twin nuclear reactor complex designed to provide a long-term supply of molybdenum-99, to be refined and distributed by MDS. The Toronto-based firm for medical… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 9, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

Certification acknowledges care of dying patients

July 9, 2008 Certification acknowledges care of dying patients Yomi Wrong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The American Board of Radiology now offers a certificate in hospice and palliative care, designed for doctors whose work involves the care of seriously ill and dying patients. Hospice practices and palliative medicine are based on expanding scientific knowledge about symptom control when cure is not available and appropriate end-of-life care… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 9, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

Productivity tools remain scarce in radiology

July 8, 2008 Productivity tools remain scarce in radiology Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adoption of productivity systems in radiology has been disappointingly slow, according to a recent study. "A surprising number of radiologists still work without some basic supports," said Dr. Nikhil R. Nayak of the department of diagnostic radiology at Yale University School of Medicine. Nayak investigated what types of radiology practices are… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 8, 2008 at 2:00am — No Comments

PET spots functional signs of early coronary artery disease in diabetes patients

July 8, 2008 PET spots functional signs of early coronary artery disease in diabetes patients James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Molecular imaging researchers have shown that coronary vascular dysfunction uncovered with PET may be diagnostically more powerful than vascular ultrasound or CT calcium tests for identifying early coronary artery disease in type 2 diabetes patients. Dr. Thomas Schindler, chief of nuclear cardiology at the… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 8, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

Imaging informatics offers key to reshaping radiology’s future

July 7, 2008 Imaging informatics offers key to reshaping radiology’s future H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With potential professional threats seeming to lurk around every corner, radiologists can expect medical imaging informatics to serve as their best defense from now until the year 2015. That was the message of Dr. Eliot Siegel's Moreton Lecture at the 2008 American College of Radiology meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 7, 2008 at 2:00am — No Comments

Featured Software: SMIViewer - A simple yet powerful platform for your volume analysis!

So if you haven't already seen SMIViewer, it is a volume analysis software. Here is a screen shot:

We interviewed the creator of SMIViewer and we would like to share it here on radRounds.

Tell us about yourself and about your group I am a researcher/developer working in medical imaging for past 5 years or so. Science.Medical.Imaging (http://groups.google.com/group/medicalimagingscience) is a group that originated with the goal of… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on July 4, 2008 at 9:00am — 1 Comment

Medicare fee schedule proposal could force nonrads to close office-based imaging services

July 3, 2008 Medicare fee schedule proposal could force nonrads to close office-based imaging services H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposed rules announced June 30 for the 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule feature provisions that could both hinder and help radiologists who perform outpatient imaging practices. The proposal, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, asks for a 5.4% cut in physician payments, but… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 3, 2008 at 2:00am — No Comments

A little rad ’ll do ya

July 3, 2008 A little rad ’ll do ya Greg Freiherr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A century ago, radiation exposure was considered a good thing. Roentgen's discovery ignited curiosity and an abundance of optimism that this new "X" ray and others like it would illuminate a path to good health. People wore radium pendants to treat rheumatism, drank radon water for pep, and wrapped themselves in uranium blankets for arthritis. Opinions changed as… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 3, 2008 at 2:00am — No Comments

SMIViewer - A free DICOM volume analyzer for 3D image processing

Fellow medical imaging enthusiast, We are happy to introduce you with SMIViewer - a free project for DICOM volume analysis. It is one of the first tools that Science.Medical.Imaging group is sharing with the community along its founding objective: "Gather thoughts from the fields of acquisition, communication and understanding of medical images for better image guided diagnostics and treatment. " The hope is to amalgamate the best of medical imaging physics, applied mathematics, computer… Continue

Added by Pixel.To.Life on July 2, 2008 at 2:30am — 4 Comments

Teleradiology answers the ring of phone images

July 2, 2008 Teleradiology answers the ring of phone images Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A unique touchscreen iPhone-teleradiology application that allows physicians to navigate through diagnostic images from home, train, or golf cart was announced in June at the Apple user's meeting by an Ohio biomedical company. The system from MIMvista of Cleveland is called MIM. It lets radiologists and physicians retrieve digital images… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on July 2, 2008 at 2:00am — No Comments