James Brice

Medication errors may arise less often in a busy hospital radiology department than in other inpatient services, but they can cause more serious damage when they do happen. Radiologists at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center came to these conclusions after evaluating 27 months of high-tech medical imaging experience. They used their data to identify the causes of errors and devise strategies to address them.

A Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan consortium has shown that adopting common radiation reduction techniques can help community-based cardiac CT practices break the habit of exposing patients to extraordinary amounts of radiation.

Simple measures of kidney stone diameter no longer make the grade for urologists, who now require more comprehensive valuations of stone density and composition to guide treatment decisions.

Based on on a database with more than 100,000 submitted cases, modifications to the international system for staging non-small cell lung cancer promise to more closely reflect the connection between disease progression and the patient's prospects for survival.

A lifesaver for some and source of wasted diagnostic effort for others, incidental findings from CT colonography present opportunities and risks for patients and imaging practitioners.

Nuclear imaging practices are bracing for another long isotope shortage with the May 15 emergency shutdown of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River in Ontario, Canada.

Like Goldilocks testing the bears’ porridge, the American College of Radiology and other professional societies are using diagnostic reference level (DRL) data to tell radiologists if the patient dose radiation from their CT scanners is too hot or just right.

Radiation exposure from multislice CT may be a reason for concern regarding pregnant women and fetuses, but Dr. Donald P. Frush does not consider it a contraindication to performing medically necessary procedures.

As with any competition, the value of the Workstation Face-Off at this year’s International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT will reveal itself during the course of the event.

The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition has introduced an attractive new website designed to inform the public about the clinical capabilities and political controversies that surround diagnostic imaging practice.

Technical innovations that were first rolled out at the 2008 RSNA six months ago will be reintroduced to the medical imaging community driving improved clinical applications highlighted at the 2009 International Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT May 19 to 22.

Despite a dismal start to 2009, most U.S. hospital radiology administrators expect restrictions against capital acquisitions to ease, giving them a chance to address their most pressing needs and acquire diagnostic imaging equipment later this year.

Bucking the tide of medical professional opinion, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has decided against granting payment for CT colonography as a screening test for colorectal cancer. CMS ruled Tuesday that the clinical evidence remains inadequate to conclude that CTC is appropriate for that role.

Dr. James Thrall, chair of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors, predicted during the opening session of the college’s annual meeting Sunday that Congress will adopt healthcare reforms in 2009 and that of all the pending proposals, Medicare legislation has the greatest likelihood of passage.

Studies examining the clinical histories of patients who developed nephrogenic systemic fibrosis after treatment at distinguished teaching hospitals in New York City and Vienna suggest that gadolinium-based contrast dose and post-MRI hemodialysis are keys to controlling the rare but deadly skin disorder.

Financial penalties would be enforced against physicians who frequently recommend inappropriate medical imaging under a set of policy options outlined in a potentially influential report issued April 30 by the Senate Finance Committee.

An international clinical trial involving 50 healthcare facilities and nearly 2000 patients has found that physicians often do not apply available dose reduction strategies in procedures, resulting in a wide variation in radiation exposure.

Innovation has always been the name of the game for the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. The 17th annual meeting beginning Saturday in Honolulu again showcases MRI science in action. But for this meeting, organizers added new features emphasizing MRI’s clinical applications and capitalizing on new communications technologies to encourage interactions between presenters and attendees at the show.

Dr. Greg Rose has uncovered radiological proof that the Easter Bunny is more than a figment of the popular imagination.

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 mummy of the Egyptian priestessMeresamun is helping a radiologistappreciate the recent history of CT withimages that are uncovering mysteriesof a life that ended 2800 years ago.

Societies hope to eliminate redundant operationsand sharpen educational program's focus

Citing uncertainties about a linkbetween ionizing radiation and cancer,an American Heart Association expertpanel is advising cardiac imagers to usecoronary multislice CT angiographyonly when its clinical benefits areclearly established.

Cardiac imagers are accentuating positive aspects of an international multicenter study of cardiac multislice CT imaging, despite a wide variation in the amount of radiation exposure among 1965 patients and the generally infrequent use of available dose reduction strategies.

MRI measures of regional brain atrophy, taken at the University of California, San Diego, have established the basis for a new way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease.

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.

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.

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.

Students may think they are getting smarter from the cognitive boost possible with prescription drug modafinil. They need to learn, however, that claims about its lack of serious side effects are wrong.

Simple physician checklists, diagnostic decision-support systems, or second looks at medical imaging exams could help to reduce the estimated 40,000 to 80,000 hospital deaths in the U.S. from diagnostic errors.