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Broader Medicare PET coverage promises to cut costs, streamline patient management

April 6, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Broader Medicare PET coverage promises to cut costs, streamline patient management By H.A. Abella Nuclear physicians praised the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' decision to expand Medicare coverage of PET scans in the initial treatment strategy of most solid cancers and myeloma. More than a third of Medicare patients will now be able to get PET scans without going through the National Oncologic PET Registry. "The vast majority of Medicare patients… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 6, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Obama budget makes no assumptions about Medicare sustainable growth rate cuts

April 3, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Obama budget makes no assumptions about Medicare sustainable growth rate cuts By James Brice The $3.5 trillion spending plan passed by the House and Senate April 2 reflects the recent reality of applying the Medicare sustainable growth rate policy on physician fees. It anticipates that Congress will again intervene to stave off the pending 21% cut to physician fees next year and actually estimates that payments will grow by $147.1 billion from 2010 to 2014. The… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 3, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Introducing the "Radiforce" 56 inch full-HD monitor

As featured on CrunchGear, there will be a new toy for radiologists (and perhaps even cardiologists) available soon, there is going to be a beautiful and high performance monitor that can push a resolution of 3840×2160.

As CrunchGear states "The enormous monitor is ostensibly for medical imaging, where huge high-res… Continue

Added by radRounds Radiology Network on April 2, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

AIUM preview: Sonologists bring annual convention to Facebook

April 2, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. AIUM preview: Sonologists bring annual convention to Facebook By H.A. Abella The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine has launched a social networking site to allow attendees to hook up, discuss, and even blog before, during, and after the group's 2009 meeting in New York City starting April 2. At least a dozen ultrasound subspecialties are now linked through the site, as well as through Facebook and Twitter. AIUM members deem their clinical practice… Continue

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

GE and Bracco spar over court ruling

April 2, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. GE and Bracco spar over court ruling By Greg Freiherr The debate between GE and Bracco over GE's marketing of its Visipaque contrast agent continues despite a U.S. District Court finding that GE used false advertising to win sales for the x-ray contrast agent. GE Healthcare is permanently enjoined from making such claims and must pay Bracco damages of $11.4 million. The ruling is a consequence of litigation begun six years ago by Bracco and settled in a New… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 2, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Report from ACC: Cardiologists slowly adopt appropriateness criteria

April 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Report from ACC: Cardiologists slowly adopt appropriateness criteria By Alice Goodman More than 13% of SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging exams are performed without clinical justification, and the appropriateness of another 14% is questionable, according to a pilot study that assesses physician referring practices and compliance with American College of Cardiology Appropriate Use Criteria. The investigation suggests that cardiologists and other ordering… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

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