Diagnostic Imaging's Blog

Rads lose procedure volume to cardiologists, surgeons

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Rads lose procedure volume to cardiologists, surgeons By Donna Domino Editor's note: In the original version of this article there were some errors in the reporting of information made during a presentation at the 2008 RSNA meeting by Dr. David Levin, professor and chair emeritus of the radiology department at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. A corrected version follows. As percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stent… Continue

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Radiation dose reduction themes color RSNA 2008

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Radiation dose reduction themes color RSNA 2008 Improved imaging capabilities and radiologist awareness promise to reduce patient exposure By H.A. Abella Radiation dose reduction was a dominant theme at the 2008 RSNA scientific assembly. If one point was clear to the nearly 60,000 people attending the meeting, it was that radiology has reasserted its authority over the use of ionizing radiation in diagnostic imaging. …

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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on January 1, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Occult infarction presages major event

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Occult infarction presages major event Enhanced MR protocol helps stratify patients By James Brice Dr. Stephan Miller and colleagues at the University of Tübingen in Germany have discovered that silent myocardial infarction raises the likelihood of a future major cardiac event for 14% of patients with symptomatic peripheral vascular disease evaluated with MRA. They made the finding after developing a new MR protocol that combined… Continue

Added by Diagnostic Imaging on January 1, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Multislice CT closes in on emergency triage role

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Multislice CT closes in on emergency triage role Rash of studies proves CT angiography adept at identifying patients at risk of major cardiac events By James Brice Cardiac imaging researchers are validating broader clinical roles for 64- slice and dual-source CT while introducing the radiological world to even more powerful machines that promise to lower radiation exposure and improve resolution. The Rule-out Myocardial Infarction Using… Continue

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Multifaceted effort propels CT colonography forward

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Multifaceted effort propels CT colonography forward McFarland describes training, lexicon development, and quality metrics initiatives for CTC services By James Brice The creators of CT screening colonography have not waited for the medical establishment and insurers to accept it as an alternative to optical colonoscopy. Dr. Elizabeth G. McFarland described during RSNA's Annual Oration in Diagnostic Radiology how they have established the… Continue

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MR, CT vendors hit range of price-performance points

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 MR, CT vendors hit range of price-performance points RSNA unveilings include premium and niche scanners and ones for budget-constrained facilities By Greg Freiherr The makers of CT and MR scanners opened the spigot of new introductions at RSNA 2008. They flooded the exhibit floor with products: some premium systems, others optimized to hit particular price points or address clinical niches. Siemens Healthcare rolled out a new version of its… Continue

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Moolah gets reports flying out the door

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Moolah gets reports flying out the door By Donna Domino Motivated by a $5000 bonus, radiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital completed scan signoffs in a fraction of the usual time. "We wanted this to be a positive rather than a punitive motivator to try and get radiologists to sign their reports on time," said Dr. Giles Boland, an associate professor of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "It is unacceptable, for… Continue

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Iso-osmolar agent shows higher renal failure rate

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Iso-osmolar agent shows higher renal failure rate Radiologists hoped the introduction of isoosmolar contrast media would eliminate severe adverse reactions to x-ray contrast. Alas, it was not to be. A large retrospective Swedish study identified a significantly higher rate of renal failure among patients administered iso-osmolar iodixanol (Visipaque) compared with patients who received low-osmolar ioxaglate (Hexabrix). Dr. Per Liss and… Continue

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Is this radiology's best connected couple?

January 1, 2009 Diagnostic Imaging. Vol. 31 No. 1 Is this radiology's best connected couple? By Rebekah Moan If it's free, highly relevant to radiology, and on the Internet, you can probably gain access to it through the site www.radiologyeducation.com, thanks to the wife and husband team of Drs. Donna and Michael D'Alessandro. In 2008, more than three million people used the site developed by Donna, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa School of Medicine, and Michael, a… Continue