April 22, 2008 Whole-body PET/CT screens Li-Fraumeni patients for range of cancers Don Rauf -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Though whole-body PET/CT is expensive, it may prove its worth by periodically screening Li-Fraumeni syndrome patients for the emergence of various cancers that are characteristic of the rare and dangerous genetic disorder. LFS patients are extremely susceptible to a range of cancers that can appear anywhere in the body,…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 22, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
April 21, 2008 Ultrasound reliably diagnoses early-stage Parkinson’s disease Wendy Despain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transcranial ultrasound provides a differential diagnosis for parkinsonian syndromes before the disease progresses beyond the very first, nonspecific, clinical signs, according to a new study. Researchers conducting the study say this noninvasive and inexpensive test should become routine, as early diagnosis would allow for…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 21, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
April 21, 2008 Report from ARRS: Studies identify expanded role for D-dimer test H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reports of the demise of the D-dimer test for suspected pulmonary embolism may be greatly exaggerated, according to two new studies. Multislice CT angiography has become the de facto standard for pulmonary embolism detection, but researchers in Illinois and Hawaii have shown the inexpensive blood test can effectively rule…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 21, 2008 at 9:00pm —
No Comments
April 18, 2008 Report from ARRS: Obesity impairs obstetric sonography H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canadian researchers have found that pregnant women who are overweight or obese are more than 10 times more likely than women of normal weight to have their second trimester fetal ultrasound screening recalled due to poor results. Worse yet, a second exam may not improve visualization but instead add only to cost and patient…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 18, 2008 at 9:30pm —
No Comments
April 18, 2008 Innovation outsourcing proposal could change pace of informatics progress Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Progress in imaging informatics tends to be incremental, one deliberate step at a time. But at least one expert believes change could be measured in much longer strides if corporations outsourced innovation. A new paper promotes the novel concept of having corporations outsource some of their internal research and…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 18, 2008 at 9:30pm —
No Comments
April 17, 2008 Report from ARRS: Breast MRI CAD zeroes in on malignancies H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer-aided detection schemes for breast MR imaging have shown plenty of promise, but they always fall short of full automation and lesion characterization. Two recent studies, however, suggest CAD for breast MRI may be closing in on true cancer detection. Investigators presented results of a study featuring the ONCAD…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 17, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 17, 2008 Report from ARRS: Breast MRI CAD zeroes in on malignancies H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Computer-aided detection schemes for breast MR imaging have shown plenty of promise, but they always fall short of full automation and lesion characterization. Two recent studies, however, suggest CAD for breast MRI may be closing in on true cancer detection. Investigators presented results of a study featuring the ONCAD…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 17, 2008 at 9:30pm —
No Comments
April 16, 2008 Report from ARRS: Benefits of abdominal CT in the emergency room outweigh radiation risks H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radiation protection watchdogs have raised the alarm over increasing utilization of CT, particularly in the emergency room. But a prospective study from Harvard University so far shows that CT's benefits may outweigh the risks, at least for triaging abdominal pain. Abdominal CT could help emergency…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 16, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 16, 2008 NSF lawsuit discovery process may expose lax contrast documentation Shalmali Pal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A casual attitude toward keeping track of gadolinium-enhanced studies may come back to haunt radiology departments that have become involved in several federal lawsuits alleging a connection between cases of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and gadolinium-based MR contrast agents. In a 2007 study that examined allergic…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 16, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 15, 2008 Scientific abstracts indicate growing prestige of ARRS annual meeting James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's happening with the American Roentgen Ray Society? Its annual meeting, known mainly for the quality of its refresher course, has become an essential point of coverage for world-class scientific research as well. Colleagues at Diagnostic Imaging have handled our review of ARRS abstracts in the past, so I was more…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 15, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 15, 2008 Myocardial perfusion CT, cardiac MR match up well James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A preliminary study indicates that first-pass and delayed-enhancement myocardial CT correlate well with measures of infarction size gathered with equivalent cardiac MR procedures. Dr. Koen Nieman and associates in the radiology and cardiology departments at Massachusetts General Hospital compared results from 64-slice CT and 1.5T cardiac…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 15, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 15, 2008 Florida radiologist agrees to pay $7 million to resolve kickback claims James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Fred L. Steinberg and his imaging centers and related entities in Palm Beach County near Miami will pay $7 million to settle alleged violations of federal Stark self-referral law and anti-kickback statutes. He was also charged with billing fraud. The settlement, announced April 14, resolves allegations that…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 15, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 15, 2008 Contrast-enhanced ultrasound beats CT in diagnosis of portal vein thrombosis in liver cancer Wendy Despain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contrast-enhanced ultrasound detected portal vein thrombosis far better than CT in cases complicating hepatocellular carcinoma. While CT found only 68% of thrombi, contrast-enhanced ultrasound identified every one in the study. It also did a far better job of helping determine if they were…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 15, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 14, 2008 Report from ARRS: Telemammography over Internet proves feasible, cost-effective H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nearly 30,000 cases and three years of experience have confirmed that the transmission and interpretation of digital mammography exams to and from a remote location through commercially available high-speed cable Internet access is feasible, safe, reliable, and cost-effective, according to a Columbia…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 14, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 14, 2008 Report from ARRS: Study establishes infection as NSF risk factor H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New evidence has surfaced pinpointing specific potential causes of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. Findings sustain its relationship to some gadolinium-based contrast media, but they also suggest that infection, certain patient demographics, and even some drugs could be strongly associated with the condition. The studies…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 14, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 11, 2008 Structured query language extension supports content-based image retrieval Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Schemes proposed to support growing interest in content-based image retrieval have generally failed to incorporate the use of structured query language to support similarity queries. Recent research from Brazil provides this ability. Similarity queries scan databases for objects similar to the reference object. To…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 11, 2008 at 11:30pm —
No Comments
April 11, 2008 PET tops CT for early characterization of malignant lung nodules H. A. Abella -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A large multicenter trial rates FDG-PET as more reliable than CT for the detection of malignant solitary pulmonary nodules. The findings suggest, however, that a combined rather than single-modality approach may lead to earlier treatment and help avoid invasive procedures. The clinical literature notes that suspicious lung…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 11, 2008 at 11:00pm —
No Comments
April 11, 2008 PET registry study authors ask Medicare to expand coverage James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Physician authors of a study summarizing 12 months of positive results from the National Oncologic PET Registry have asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to grant routine Medicare payment for numerous PET procedures tracked by the registry. The formal request, dated March 25, came a day after the results of the…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 11, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 11, 2008 Nuclear studies show benefits of progenitor cell therapy James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- German researchers have demonstrated the value of PET and SPECT imaging for monitoring the ability of circulating progenitor cells injected in the coronary arteries to preserve the integrity of myocardial tissue following recanalization. Twenty-six patients with occlusive coronary artery disease took part in the randomized…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 11, 2008 at 10:30pm —
No Comments
April 10, 2008 Proton MRS links fibromyalgia pain to changes in brain molecule Yomi Wrong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Widespread muscle and tissue pain, tenderness, and fatigue are well-documented symptoms of fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that affects up to an estimated 6% of the U.S. population. The underlying pathology of the pain disease is unknown. A new study featuring proton MR spectroscopy, however, has found a key linkage between…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 10, 2008 at 12:00am —
No Comments
