Greg Freiherr

Ultrasound elastography may be the link bridging the gap between suspicion and definitive proof, a noninvasive means to distinguish between benign and malignant tissue. The technology for doing so appeared some years ago at the annual meeting of the RSNA as an experimental curiosity. It’s been evolving since then until it appears now to have reached a clinical tipping point.

Opinions are done. Finis. Kaput. They can’t compete with spinions. A spinion is a hybrid of spin and opinion. They are opinions on steroids, serving as vehicles for promoting a deeply and strategically developed agenda.

Agfa Healthcare extended its computed radiography portfolio with the global launch at RSNA 2009 of a compact, high-volume reader. Agfa also raised expectations among customers in the market for digital radiography systems with the unveiling of two works-in-progress built around flat-panel detectors.

Interest in computed and digital radiography was booming among vendors at RSNA 2009, as traditional providers of turnkey systems and components showed portfolios designed to appeal to cost-conscious buyers.

New offerings shown at RSNA 2009 by the makers of digital mammography equipment reflected a new reality in the U.S. market, one based on cost constraints and diminishing demand. Vendors emphasized low-cost solutions that guard against obsolescence at the expense of premium ones, a change spurred by the continuing recession in the U.S. and an installed base increasingly saturated with high-end full-field digital mammography systems.

New ideas take time to catch on in medical imaging, whether they are brand new modalities, such as MR, or new techniques within an established modality, such as color Doppler ultrasound. It’s as though there are dues to be paid. Elastography appears to have paid its dues.

Toshiba laid the groundwork for entering the 3T marketplace in the U.S. with the unveiling of its Vantage Titan 3T system at RSNA 2009. The work-in-progress, which is pending FDA clearance, leapfrogs earlier generations of 3T scanners with a 71-cm tapered aperture and Pianissimo noise reduction technology.

GE Healthcare announced at RSNA 2009 an effort to develop the next generation of software designed to cut patient x-ray dose from CT.

New software shown by Siemens at the RSNA meeting promises to cut patient exposure to x-rays by as much as 60% for a wide range of CT applications.

Over the last several months, Philips has been dropping hints that the company would unveil at RSNA 2009 a high-powered technique for cutting CT dose. The company did not disappoint.

McKesson is showcasing its latest image management technology on the RSNA exhibit floor, a workflow enhancement called Variable Thickness Regional Intensity Projection (VTRIP), which promises more efficient reading of CT and MR studies.

An MR contrast agent for blood pool imaging once known as Vasovist reappeared at RSNA 2009 under the new moniker Ablavar.

IT products ready for market and ones nearing commercial release punctuated the Merge Healthcare booth at the RSNA meeting.

Thinking Systems is showcasing its upgraded ThinkingPACS and ThinkingRIS at RSNA 2009, focusing on enhancements that support multimodality processing, especially for molecular imaging.

At RSNA 2009, Agfa HealthCare executives highlighted opportunities that could come from a pending deal to acquire a German developer and producer of generic contrast media.

A high-field, wide-bore MR scanner from GE Healthcare is making its first appearance at an RSNA meeting. The system, called Optima MR450w, was officially unveiled some three months ago, but RSNA 2009 is its first major trade show.

RSNA newbie Real-Time Tomography launched at this year’s meeting a new image processing and enhancement software library for digital mammography. But the product, dubbed Adara, will not be sold to providers, at least not directly. Real-Time Tomography came to Chicago with hopes of attracting original equipment manufacturers to its library.

RSNA newbie Real-Time Tomography launched at this year’s meeting a new image processing and enhancement software library for digital mammography.

Carestream Health showed at the RSNA meeting a work-in-progress upgrade to its PACS that will allow cross-site reading through a unified global work list.

SuperSonic Imagine returned to the RSNA exhibit floor with FDA clearance to market its Aixplorer ultrasound system in the U.S.

IT products ready for market and ones nearing commercial release punctuated the Merge Healthcare booth at the RSNA meeting. Two works-in-progress vied particularly well for the attention of visitors. One is the eFilm for iPhone, an image-enabled supplement to the electronic medical record. The second is the company’s FusionWeb Patient Access Portal, which delivers an Internet-based means for web-savvy patients to manage appointments, update records, receive appointment reminders, and view reports.

Siemens brought two blockbuster MR offerings to the RSNA meeting this week: the 3T Skyra and 1.5T Aera. The two new products, works-in-progress pending FDA clearance but scheduled to begin shipping by mid-2010, promise a productivity lift through their patient-friendly bores, measuring 70 cm wide, and automation that simplifies complex scan tasks.

GE Healthcare unveiled at RSNA 2009 a software technique that uses low-frequency sound waves in combination with MRI to measure the elasticity of liver tissue as an indicator of disease.

Philips Healthcare executives believe the MultiTransmit parallel RF (radiofrequency) technology built into the company’s flagship 3T scanner will help make 3T a clinical workhorse.

Siemens unveiled a new information technology at RSNA 2009: software that promises to do the tedious and time-consuming tasks involved in reading MR and CT exams. The new product, a work-in-progress pending FDA clearance, is an outgrowth of the syngo platform that Siemens has used for years to provide consistency in data processing among its modalities.

A buzzword sure to make the rounds on the RSNA exhibit floor this year will be “cloud computing.” This approach to computing marshals resources available through the Internet as the infrastructure for processing, distributing, and archiving data. The beneficiaries of cloud computing systems, such as those who want to manage radiological images and reports, typically must make little or no new investment in hardware or software, an attractive selling point for products based on this concept, given the current economic environment.

Some have blamed in-office self-referral for imaging’s fall from grace, alleging that overprescription of imaging exams for personal gain and the low-quality images that often result have tarnished the specialty’s reputation. Now relief may come from an unlikely quarter: healthcare reform.

In 1999, when the National Academy of Engineering asked professional engineering societies to rank the top achievements of the 20th century, they ranked medical imaging techniques at number 14, one rung below the Internet and one above household appliances. A decade later the providers of imaging services and the companies that sell this equipment are scapegoats targeted for rate cutting and taxation. What happened?

A Boston University-led research team has come up with a breed of contrast agents that might open the door to the use of CT to noninvasively diagnose osteoarthritis. These agents visualize the distribution of glycosaminoglycans, the anionic sugars that account for the strength of joint cartilage.

Developers of CT scanners have been trying to adapt their technology to breast imaging for decades. They have drawn a step closer, thanks to the efforts of researchers at the University of California, Davis. Their efforts may lead to the ability to not only visualize but treat breast cancer.