Diagnostic Imaging's Page

The largest population-based study to date comparing film-screen mammography and full-field digital mammography has found the digital approach is superior for visualizing microcalcifications deemed crucial to diagnosing ductal carcinoma in situ. No other significant difference in the diagnostic capabilities of the digital and analog approaches was identified. Though previous studies have shown digital mammography is as good as film when it comes to detecting breast cancer, the current study is… Continue

If it becomes law, a bill currently sitting in Congress designed to increase breast cancer awareness and prevention among women aged 15 to 39 could lead to a significant jump in the number of screening exams. Whether these exams would be medically warranted or just motivated by fear, breast imagers say, is open to question. In March, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) introduced the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act of 2009. The law calls for $9 million… Continue

Nonelderly adults are exposed to excessive doses of radiation from medical imaging procedures for which clinical data are lacking, according to reports published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Radiologists and others familiar with the reports, including the American College of Radiology, cautioned against giving them too much credence. A retrospective cohort study covered more than 655,000 patients younger than 65 years and found a majority underwent at least one imaging… Continue

Interventional radiology providers in the U.S. and abroad will be asked to remember something simple but fairly important when caring for pediatric patients from now on: Step lightly. The Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging has expanded its Image Gently campaign to include interventional radiology, building upon previous efforts to raise awareness of the need to reduce radiation exposure from medical imaging. …

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Radiologists who believe that Washington insiders have targeted medical imaging for financial cutbacks can find plenty of evidence to raise concerns in a recent report on Medicare costs published by the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee. “Data Book: Healthcare Spending and the Medicare Program,” a 198-page report released by MedPAC in June, is peppered with the statistics indicating that medical imaging continues to fuel rapid Medicare spending growth, although it excuses radiologists from… Continue

Scores of radiologists from private imaging centers in the New York City metro area and thousands of their patients have organized to pressure their representatives in Congress for support in preserving access to imaging services. Their approach targets key players dealing with health care reform. “We have access to legislators who are much more in tune with (healthcare reform) as opposed to other campaigns that may not have direct access to the lawmakers who have a say in national policy,”… Continue

The chairman of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors issued an open letter to Barack Obama urging the White House to include medical malpractice reform as part of healthcare reform discussion. In the letter dated August 12, Dr. James Thrall wrote that he felt compelled to respond to a senior administration official who said in a recent American Board of Radiology forum that malpractice reform was excluded from discussion because the White House had not heard from physician on… Continue

Findings from a Washington, DC, study suggest that cardiac CT performed before repeat cardiac surgical revascularization may lead to safer and more cost-effective operations. Preoperative CT was also linked to a higher likelihood of improved peri- and postoperative outcomes in these patients. "This is the first study looking at perioperative outcomes in association with cardiac CT as a way to guide and map substernum structures," said senior investigator Dr. Allen J. Taylor, director of… Continue

A review article asserting breast MRI does not improve surgical planning, reduce follow-up surgeries, or reduce the risk of local recurrences is drawing fire in the breast imaging community. In the past few years, radiologists have used MRI in preoperative staging for women with newly diagnosed breast cancer because it detects additional cancer. The recent review article questions the utility of MRI and says the modality does more harm than good, since there is evidence MRI changes surgical… Continue

When it comes to determining the cause of death for fetuses, parents may have another option besides conventional autopsy. Whole-body high-field MRI offers a reliable option for postmortem exams in a less invasive way, according to British researchers. Past scandals in the U.K. have reduced postmortem autopsy rates for fetuses. In 2001 it was reported that Alder Hey Children's hospital in Liverpool, U.K., had retained hearts and other organs from hundreds of children and fetuses who died at the… Continue