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October 2008 Blog Posts (116)

Ultrasound nears its potential in breast cancer

October 31, 2008 Ultrasound nears its potential in breast cancer By Greg Freiherr It’s been a long time coming. Nearly a decade has passed since ATL took a serious run at advancing the medical art of breast cancer diagnosis. The company, long-since absorbed by Philips Healthcare, developed a novel algorithm designed for its Ultramark 9 HDI, later adapted for its HDI 3000 and 5000. The goal was to eliminate the need for at least some biopsies. In an effort to reach it, ATL took on the arduous… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 31, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Final rules in 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule disappoint some, elate others

October 31, 2008 Final rules in 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule disappoint some, elate others By James Brice The 2009 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule reflects the recent tendency of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to propose stringent reforms for in-office imaging and independent diagnostic imaging facilities in the summer and decide against their implementation when the final MPFS rules are published in the fall. This year, CMS deferred taking action on its proposal that… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 31, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Spokane VA Medical Center and NightHawk Radiology Services Improving Patient Care with After-Hours Reads

October 30, 2008 Spokane VA Medical Center and NightHawk Radiology Services Improving Patient Care with After-Hours Reads NightHawk Radiology Services is leading the transformation of the practice of radiology. Its team of U.S. board-certified, state-licensed, and hospital-privileged physicians located in the US, Australia, and Switzerland, provides services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for more than 750 radiology group customers and the 26% of all U.S. hospitals they serve. NightHawk… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 30, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

NightHawk third quarter results show scan volume up 1%, prices off 3%

October 30, 2008 NightHawk third quarter results show scan volume up 1%, prices off 3% COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, Oct 29 -- NightHawk Radiology Holdings announced Wednesday financial results for its third quarter ended Sept. 30. The following are third quarter 2008 highlights: * Revenue was $43.4 million compared with $45.2 million in the year-ago quarter. Scan volume grew 1% to 792,000 scans while pricing declined 3%. * Revenue from new service offerings, including final reads and business… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 30, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Chest CT shows value during follow-up for head and neck cancer patients

October 30, 2008 Chest CT shows value during follow-up for head and neck cancer patients By Rebekah Moan Multislice CT chest studies should be routinely performed, especially during follow-up exams, for some head and neck cancer patients, according to a recent study from Taiwan in the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery. Chest CT is recommended for newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patients at high risk for developing a malignant neoplasm of the lung during follow-up,… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 30, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

CT colonography offers number one choice after failed colonoscopy

October 29, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. CT colonography offers number one choice after failed colonoscopy By Rebekah Moan An Italian investigation suggests virtual colonography is a better follow-up test for failed colonoscopy than a double-contrast barium enema. Dr. Lapo Sali of the radiodiagnostic section within the department of clinical physiopathology at the University of Florence and colleagues conducted a population-based screening program for colorectal cancer in Tuscany (World J… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 29, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Brain imaging uncovers why people overbid at auctions

October 29, 2008 Brain imaging uncovers why people overbid at auctions New York University neuroscientists and economists have combined functional MRI with behavioral economic research to discover why people tend to overbid for products sold at auction: fear of losing a social competition. The next step may be explaining irrational Wall Street behavior. Functional MRI was used to examine brain activation patterns while volunteers played either an auction game with a partner or a lottery game.… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 29, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Study evaluates stack mode viewing techniques

October 28, 2008 Study evaluates stack mode viewing techniques by Douglas Page In the absence of satisfactory 3D viewers, most volumetric medical data is currently viewed as stacks of 2D slices. Yet little research has been conducted on stack mode viewing techniques. A recent study from Canada evaluated three interaction techniques for scrolling stack mode displays of volumetric data: * Two techniques used a scroll-wheel mouse. * One used only the wheel, while another used a click-and-drag… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 28, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Obama health reform plan continues to lead in DiagnosticImaging.com survey

October 28, 2008 Obama health reform plan continues to lead in DiagnosticImaging.com survey Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's health plan continues to hold a lead over the plan put forth by Republican John McCain in a survey being conducted at DiagnosticImaging.com. As of midday Oct. 27, the survey had received 380 votes. Obama's plan was favored by 44.7% and McCain's by 42.1% of respondents, a slight gain for McCain from a week earlier. Another 6.1% favored a different plan, 5%… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 28, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Emergency Medical Services acquires Templeton Readings

October 27, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Emergency Medical Services acquires Templeton Readings Emergency Medical Services announced that its EmCare subsidiary has acquired Templeton Readings. Founded in 2001 in suburban Baltimore by Dr. Philip A. Templeton, Templeton Readings provides final reads and teleradiology services with contracts in 31 states and agreements representing an extensive network of radiologists across the country. The transaction was completed on Oct. 17. EmCare anticipates… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 27, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Core needle biopsy proves safe for patients taking anticoagulants

October 27, 2008 Core needle biopsy proves safe for patients taking anticoagulants Radiologists can breathe easier about the risk of patient bleeding and bruising when performing core needle breast biopsies on women who take daily anticoagulant aspirin or therapeutically-in-range warfarin, according to a new study. In the past, patients were advised to cease anticoagulation therapy for one week before undergoing core needle breast biopsy. Radiologists found, however, that stopping… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 27, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Colonoscopy proves cost-effective for younger patients but questionable in older ones

October 24, 2008 Colonoscopy proves cost-effective for younger patients but questionable in older ones Rebekah Moan Conducting colonoscopies for people in their midfifties saves money, but screening in those older than 75 may not be beneficial, according to a government policy group. Research presented in September at the 2008 American College of Gastroenterology’s meeting showed that screening for colon cancer at age 55 would save at least two dollars for every dollar spent. …

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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 24, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

10-24-briefs

October 24, 2008 Stereotaxis releases IT platform A data management platform developed by Stereotaxis for the remote viewing and recording of interventional procedures is on the market. The company, a pioneer in magnetically guided catheterization, said its Odyssey Cinema will store and replay procedures either in part or in their entirety. These playbacks will serve as a means for expanded clinical collaboration, remote consultation, and training. PerkinElmer makes Asian play Seeking to extend… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 24, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Product Review: 2View Mammography Specimen Container

We had the pleasure to recently review the 2View Mammography Specimen Container. Thanks to the team at 2-View for this opportunity.

The product As mentioned on 2View's website, partial mastectomy specimen handling has challenges. Compression, lack of orthogonal views, and manual manipulation of the specimen are issues with specimen radiography. When there is no margin for error, a new device such as 2View mammography specimen container is a great idea. From the… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on October 24, 2008 at 8:30pm — No Comments

CT's impact in diagnosing appendicitis depends on clinical likelihood

October 23, 2008 CT's impact in diagnosing appendicitis depends on clinical likelihood Clinical experience shows that diagnostic CT reduces the incidence of negative appendectomies. Those skeptical about the application's safety, however, may find ammunition in a recent prospective study that suggests CT may be unnecessary when appendicitis is unlikely. Dr. Robert O. Nathan, an acting assistant professor of radiology at the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues assessed the impact… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 23, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Deep Vein Thrombosis Evaluation May be Performed More Cheaply per JAMA Article

A simple ultrasound scan works as well at spotting deep vein blood clots as a costly and time-consuming technique requiring more advanced equipment, Italian researchers said on Wednesday.

The finding gives emergency room doctors and hospitals lacking expensive ultrasound machines an easier way to check for the clots that can kill, said Enrico Bernardi of the Civic Hospital in Italy, who led the study.

"Until this study nobody knew if the two techniques were equally effective and… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on October 23, 2008 at 3:00pm — No Comments

SeekRadiology: 2008 October

There are all sorts of search engines that are pertinent to the field of diagnostic imaging such as Goldminer, RadiologySearch and YottaLook. But these are all on a different server with different URL’s so if you want to use all of them at once, you have to have 3 or more windows or tabs open. SeekRadiology is bound to solve just that problem. It is not a search engine in itself, but it is a clever use of some old HTML and new Java Script to… Continue

Added by András Székely on October 23, 2008 at 9:18am — No Comments

Molecular Computer Tomography realized

Siemens Healthcare introduced Biograph mCT at the European Association of Nuclear Medicine conference in Munich, Germany. The latest addition to their scanner line-up offers:

read full story on TomographyBlog.com

Added by András Székely on October 23, 2008 at 2:00am — 2 Comments

Surf the web for your mental health

October 22, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Surf the web for your mental health Greg Freiherr Every day, I'm getting better at making tough decisions. I know this because searching the Internet stimulates the parts of my brain that control decision making and complex reasoning. Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles found this out using functional MRI on computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults while they surfed the web. I extrapolated. Much of my time during the day is spent on… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 22, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Functional MRI establishes link between brain receptor activation and obesity

October 22, 2008 Functional MRI establishes link between brain receptor activation and obesity Kathryn Madden, science administrator, Oregon Research Institute Using brain imaging and chocolate milkshakes, scientists have found that women with weakened "reward circuitry" in their brains are at increased risk of weight gain over time and potential obesity. The risk increases even more for women who also have a gene associated with compromised dopamine signaling in the brain. The results, drawn… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on October 22, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments