December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 3T MR beats 1.5T for ulnar wrist pain imaging The orthopedic world of tiny structures and joints presents unique challenges in diagnostic imaging. With traditional 1.5T scanning, spatial resolution, imaging speed, and signal-tonoise ratios have left orthopedists wanting more. A new study indicates the move to advanced 3T imaging might be ideal for orthopedics. The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Hand Surgery, found…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 8:00pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. 3D rivals battle at RSNA 2008 By Greg Freiherr Competition among vendors hawking advanced visualization tools has heated up on the RSNA 2008 exhibit floor with offerings from standard-bearer Vital Images, newcomers ZioStation and FiatLux, and perennial rivals TeraRecon and Visage Imaging. Vital Images launched a web-enabled suite of advanced applications ported from its workstation. Vitrea Web allows ViTAL Enterprise customers to run best-of-breed…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 8:00pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Freestyle healthcare enters the marketplace Med school, schmed school—regulation just gets in the way of market wisdom BY BRADLEY M. TIPLER, M.D. Dr. Tipler is a private-practice radiologist in Staunton, VA. He can be reached by fax at 540/332-4491 or by e-mail at btipler@medicaltees.com. Like most radiology groups, mine is a diverse collection. This is good. It allows us to hear a wide range of approaches to any given problem, some of which…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 fMRI links defective brain wiring, high risk of obesity Women with a weakened brain "reward circuitry" are at increased risk of weight gain over time and potential obesity, according to two studies from researchers at the University of Oregon. The risk increases for women who also have a gene associated with compromised dopamine signaling in the brain. Lead author Eric Stice, Ph.D., and colleagues at the university's Lewis Center for…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Financial crisis squashes demand for new scanners Soft first half presages dismal year end for MR, CT, PET, but ultrasound and mammography shine As 2008 drew to a close, so did demand in the U.S. for imaging equipment. The timing couldn't be worse. The crisis in the U.S. credit markets felled an already stumbling market for capital equipment such as MR and CT. Vendors began feeling the pinch in the first half of the year, reflecting a downturn…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Feds push states to abolish certificate of need regs The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are pressuring state governments to repeal certificate of need laws meant to control healthcare costs by regulating the purchase of capital equipment, such as MRI technology and CT scanners. The two agencies argue that CON laws are anticompetitive, favor incumbents, and undercut consumer choice. The DOJ and FTC underscored their…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Expert brings insights, history, strong opinions to NSF controversy BY JOHN C. HAYES Sometimes we get to explore a controversy with a bit of historical perspective. That opportunity usually involves someone who has spent considerable time in radiology and has developed strong opinions about what the history shows. We have just such an example in a commentary from Prof. Dr. Peter Rinck that appears on page 23 of this edition. Rinck, an expert…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 European hospitals cope with Mo-99 supply crisis Petten reactor shutdown disrupts nuclear medicine in 20 European countries and U.S. until mid-January Nuclear medicine services in 20 European countries, the U.S., and Canada are learning to cope with the potential daily disruptions in the normal supply of molybdenum-99 from the forced shutdown of the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands. The HFR is one of two main sources of Mo-99 in…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Environment aims to enrich interdepartmental teamwork Completely rethinking facility planning results in reading milieu that enhances productivity, collaboration with referring physicians BY JAMES A. AMATO MBA (RT) Mr. Amato is the Medical Center's administrator for radiology at the University of Virginia Health System. Enhancing collaboration with referring physicians is the focus of a major renovation currently under way at the University of…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. Elastography breaks new ground in musculoskeletal imaging By H.A. Abella Researchers from Egypt and Austria are taking a leap of faith to evaluate several possible ultrasound elastography applications in musculoskeletal radiology. Everyone from weekend warriors to elite athletes may benefit if the test is proven effective, according to papers released Monday at the RSNA meeting. Musculoskeletal radiologists seem keen on moving toward more quantitative,…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. CTA evaluates coronary stent patency By James Brice Cohort studies presented in a scientific session Sunday showed progress toward employing coronary CT angiography to evaluate the patency of coronary artery stents. Building on research presented in the two preceding years, the results covered during this year's sessions indicate that the protocols have improved for examining stent patency with 64-slice or dual-source CT. Promising findings from this…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 CT angiography helps plan endovascular aneurysm repair Postprocedure examination for endoleaks and assessment of vessel morphology follow pretreatment evaluation and sizing BY CONSTANTINO S. PEÑA, M.D., JAMES F. BENENATI, M.D., AND BARRY T. KATZEN, M.D. Dr. Peña is medical director of vascular imaging at Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, Dr. Benenati is medical director of the peripheral vascular laboratory and the fellowship…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Colonoscopy could be costeffective only in middle age New evidence suggests conducting screening colonoscopies for people in their mid- 50s saves money. But other evidence indicates there may be an upper age limit for the benefits of such screening. Dr. Jianjun Li and colleagues from Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn conducted free screening colonoscopies for 248 consecutive patients with a mean age of 55. Follow-up detected colon cancer…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 CoActiv tailors PACS for breast imaging By Greg Freiherr Emerging opportunities in breast imaging have inspired CoActiv to tailor its Exam-PACS to handle breast-specific gamma imaging files, such as those generated by Dilon Technologies' molecular breast imaging gamma cameras. The company's new PACS twist, which debuted at RSNA 2008, supports side-by-side display of nuclear medicine images and digital mammograms as well as breast ultrasound and MR images, according to the…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 30 No. 12 Case of the Month CLINICAL HISTORY A 27-year-old woman with a history of hypertension and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus presented with mild abdominal pain. When questioned, the patient denied experiencing recent weight loss. FINDINGS Axial CT images were obtained in the arterial and venous phases after administration of oral and intravenous contrast media. A 6.4 × 5.9 × 8.6-cm mass was found to arise from the tail of the pancreas and…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
December 1, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. Brachytherapy improves cancer treatment in augmented breasts By Christiana Schmitz Targeted radiation of breast cancer reduces treatment time from six and a half weeks to five days, while reducing pain and improving cosmetic outcome, according to a study presented at the RSNA meeting. Brachytherapy is particularly useful for breast cancer patients who have undergone breast augmentation. It targets cancer using radioactive "seeds" placed with catheters…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 1, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
November 30, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. PET/CT in prostate cancer influences staging, treatment strategy By Shalmali Pal Prostate-specific antigen measurements are considered a useful organ-specific marker, but they are not necessarily an adequate tumor marker. PET/CT in combination with PSA levels can play a significant role in detecting and staging prostate cancer, according to two presentations Sunday at RSNA 2008. Dr. Nghi Nguyen presented his multi-institutional group's work on the…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on November 30, 2008 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
November 30, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. Naviscan readies PET biopsy By Greg Freiherr PET niche developer Naviscan arrived at the RSNA meeting with permission from the FDA to launch its Stereo Navigator, a biopsy guidance feature for its breast-specific PET scanner. Stereo Navigator can localize lesions as small as 2 mm. It uses a stereotactic frame fixed between the scanner's paddles to guide a biopsy needle into the breast. Localization is verified using a PET-visible line source inserted…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on November 30, 2008 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
November 30, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. MRI shows residual breast cancer disease better than other modalities By Rebekah Moan Preliminary results from American College of Radiology Imaging Network Trial 6657 show that MRI estimates residual breast cancer disease area better than clinical exams or mammography. The study is a part of the national I-SPY collaborative trial of imaging and biomarkers for monitoring and guiding preoperative treatment for women with breast cancer. …
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on November 30, 2008 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
November 30, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. Lung cancer staging undergoes major overhaul By Philip Ward The imminent publication of eagerly anticipated new international guidelines promises to transform the complex area of lung cancer staging. In two separate education exhibits at RSNA 2008, presenters from the U.S. and France urge all radiologists to become familiar with the seventh edition of the tumor, node, metastasis classification for lung cancer. The International Association for the Study…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on November 30, 2008 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
