April 3, 2008 Race exerts little influence on CT calcium test results Yomi Wrong -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Calcium deposits in coronary arteries provide a strong predictor for incidence of heart attack and cardiac disease, and detecting such deposits via CT scanning can help promote overall cardiac health in racially and ethnically diverse populations, according to a new study in March 28 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. The…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 3, 2008 at 12:30pm —
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April 2, 2008 Web-based repositories pose threat of unprotected records Douglas Page ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The reluctance or inability of the healthcare industry or federal government to provide a universal online personal medical record repository mechanism has created a vacuum. This vacuum, in turn, has attracted deep-pocket giants like Google and Microsoft. In February, Internet search titan Google stepped into the online repository…
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April 2, 2008 Online patient medical records will challenge radiologists and others John C. Hayes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than a decade after the shift to PACS became firmly established in radiology, a national movement toward digitizing all medical information appears to be gaining traction. Google and Microsoft, two of the biggest players in the digital world, have launched efforts to provide free storage of personal medical…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 2, 2008 at 12:30pm —
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April 2, 2008 New recommendations target NSF risk Shalmali Pal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis has received widespread attention, but official protocols on how to avoid the life-threatening skin condition are quite sparse: Only one section in the American College of Radiology's 2007 white paper on safe MR practices is devoted to the condition. The ACR is already rectifying that situation, however, with detailed…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 2, 2008 at 12:30pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Web-based repositories pose threat of unprotected records Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The reluctance or inability of the healthcare industry or federal government to provide a universal online personal medical record repository mechanism has created a vacuum. This vacuum, in turn, has attracted deep-pocket giants like Google and Microsoft. In February, Internet search titan Google stepped into…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 11:00pm —
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April 1, 2008 Teleradiology scheme delivers high-quality images to smartphones Douglas Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A new teleradiology solution takes advantage of improvements in wireless networking, imaging technology, and handheld devices to permit referring physicians to view CT and MR scans remotely on cell phones and personal digital assistants. The system has the potential to improve outcomes for patients experiencing…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 11:00pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Swedish researcher adds touch to 3D interpretation Greg Freiherr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Engineers are always on the lookout for new and better ways to present data. So it's been with the transition from 2D to 3D and, lately, to 4D, with the capture of dynamic organs or the display of large volumes of data. But even the most advanced of these techniques, whether fly-throughs of the colon or 4D fetal…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 4:30pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Spoof Nobel Prize goes to imaging study with sharp point OVERREAD Philip Ward -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brian Witcombe, a consultant radiologist at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, collaborated with Dan Meyer, executive director of the Sword Swallowers' Association International on the study. Interviews with experienced sword swallowers revealed that lower chest pain, often lasting days, followed some…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Shifting clinical needs recast thick-, thin-client PACS debate Image Reconstruction Greg Freiherr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radiology has been through thick and thin—clients, that is. The two approaches in PACS are defined by the way images are reconstructed, on a central server or a dedicated workstation. Thick-client products once dominated, but advances in PC technology, particularly in memory, along…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 4:30pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Shifting clinical needs recast thick-, thin-client PACS debate Image Reconstruction Greg Freiherr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radiology has been through thick and thin—clients, that is. The two approaches in PACS are defined by the way images are reconstructed, on a central server or a dedicated workstation. Thick-client products once dominated, but advances in PC technology, particularly in memory, along…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 4:00pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Reimbursement woes call for paradigm shift PAYMENT POLICY Michael Longacre -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recent economic headlines have been equally negative for both providers and vendors: "$45 trillion gap seen in US benefits," "Medicare spending surged in 2006," "DRA cuts enter year two," "Philips' imaging sales hit by DRA," "GE Healthcare profits decline in 2007," "Bush seeks surplus through Medicare cuts."…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Online patient medical records will challenge radiologists and others Emily Hayes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than a decade after the shift to PACS became firmly established in radiology, a national movement toward digitizing all medical information appears to be gaining traction. As reported in our EI&IT section, Google and Microsoft, two of the biggest players in the digital world, have launched…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Labor bureau predicts end of chronic tech shortage NEWSCLIPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Workforce projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest the supply of imaging and radiation oncology technologists may exceed demand by 2016, according to a study by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. The study suggests that if BLS forecasts are accurate, the industry could be producing…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Imaging research efforts place focus on clinical effectiveness RESEARCH TO PRACTICE James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The early months of 2008 were unsettling for physicians with an interest in cardiac CT. In a sense, the year began for these radiologists and cardiologists with the Jan. 12 deadline to comment on Medicare's controversial proposal to establish a national coverage determination for cardiac…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Imagers hone bedside manner to court savvy consumers Emily Hayes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the children's book Jessica's X-Ray, a little girl with a broken her arm travels through a hospital getting various kinds of imaging studies, from old-fashioned plain films to economical ultrasound to sophisticated MRI. Given the current level of competition, diagnostic imaging specialists could be forgiven for…
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April 1, 2008 High CCTA radiation exposure underscores need for better user education James Brice -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Results from an international trial involving 44 sites have confirmed that the routine clinical use of cardiac CT angiography exposes patients to large amounts of ionizing radiation. The amount of radiation exposure varies considerably, suggesting that users have not uniformly adopted dose-reducing imaging strategies,…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. fMRI bolsters diagnosis, management of autism NEWSCLIPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Functional MRI can identify brain activity patterns unique to people with autism spectrum disorders. Findings suggest that quantitative fMRI-based measurements could improve the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. Principal investigator Pearl H. Chiu, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Fibroid embolization proves primacy in two trial results NEWSCLIPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two major studies have concluded that uterine artery embolization is as good as or better than hysterectomy or myomectomy for treatment of uterine fibroids. The multicenter Embolization versus Hysterectomy (EMMY) trial enrolled 177 women with uterine fibroids who were randomized to undergo UAE or hysterectomy. All…
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Exposé shows insurers have reason to gloat Bradley M. Tipler, M.D. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was disappointed the popular media didn't pick up the recent article in The New York Times and Review by reporter/sleuth I. C. Hays. Hays acquired from "an unnamed source" a copy of an internal memo from the president of the Health Insurers of America, the largest trade organization in the field. The memo, dated…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 3:30pm —
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April 1, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Digital strategies aim to reduce breast imaging radiation dose WOMEN'S HEALTH Karen Sandrick -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Because modern digital detectors can be tuned to be more efficient than screen-film systems, they automatically lower the radiation dose to the patient while maintaining the image quality radiologists crave. Photon-counting, the method used in Sectra's detector, for example, minimizes…
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Added by Diagnostic Imaging on April 1, 2008 at 3:30pm —
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