The higher rate of mastectomy among breast cancer patients imaged with MRI may be due to selection bias as opposed to the modality itself, according to a study presented at the RSNA scientific assembly Nov. 28.

The effects of an agreement signed in the run-up to RSNA 2010 changed the IT approaches of two companies on the exhibit floor, TeraRecon and Agfa HealthCare. One week before the imaging community trekked to Chicago, these two companies cut a deal to make TeraRecon’s thin-client iNtuition an integral part of Agfa’s IMPAX 6 PAC system

Screening MRI should be an adjunct to screening mammography in women with a personal history of breast cancer, researchers at the 2010 RSNA scientific assembly in Chicago said.

Nearly a decade after PET/CT was first commercialized, vendors at RSNA 2010 took the next logical step and combined MR and PET. The result is unlike anything seen before.

Fuji Medical USA has integrated 3D directly into its Synapse PACS, eliminating the need for thin-client 3D or dedicated 3D workstations accompanying its PACS. The newly integrated technology, dubbed Synapse 3D, was shown for the first time as a commercial product at RSNA 2010, accompanied by a work-in-progress application called Synapse Mobility that promises to allow access to Synapse PACS images and clinical tools using handheld devices.

Seeking to drive down patient radiation dose, Siemens Healthcare unveiled a new technology platform for its CT scanners, one that not only cuts dose but speeds the exam and promotes more efficient patient handling

Video! Ziosoft has been trying to unlock the U.S. market for advanced visualization for several years. It may have found the key with a technology unveiled this week at RSNA2010.

Dr. Hedvig Hricak used her presidential address before the opening session of the 2010 RSNA meeting to express her desire for a new molecular imaging subspecialty while cautioning radiologists that MI is not appropriate for all clinical settings.

Video! Diagnostic Imaging's Greg Freiherr interviews representatives of the major vendors exhibiting at this year's meeting.

When the gatekeepers clear the way to the exhibit halls at McCormick Place, Canon USA will be out with its CXDI-70C Wireless Digital Radiography System, but it won’t be alone. A gaggle of vendors, including Carestream and Fuji, will be showing portable x-ray detectors as well.

The need for increased efficiency will continue to ripple across radiology, as it has since the start of the great recession, leading the community to seek better and lower cost ways to manage patients. This year, as in years past, this need will be satisfied in large part by offerings in information technology.

Protocols that get the most from every x-ray and high-tech algorithms that delete noise will drive CT at this year’s show.

MR vendors will show advanced technologies in traditional-and nontraditional-realms at the RSNA meeting.

The technological and political evolution of digital mammography will be in evidence on the RSNA exhibit floor.

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.

It’s been argued that repeat/reject analysis, a quality-assurance tool to observe trends and make improvements that help reduce the need for repeat images, is not necessary when using digital equipment. While it is true that digital imaging reduces some error rates, the results on the Mayo Clinic digital poster exhibit at the RSNA meeting showed that mistakes still occur in the digital environment.

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.

Korean researchers tested the ability of radiologists to spot CT images altered with commercially available software to introduce pathology and found that their ability to do so is no more certain than a coin flip.

Interventional radiologists should refrain from performing either kyphoplasty or vertebroplasty unless the procedure, intended mostly for the management of pain from vertebral compression fractures, is done in the context of clinical trials.