Patients hate endorectal coils. But results presented at RSNA 2004 show without equivocation that the devices boost the diagnostic confidence of imaging studies critical to determining how prostate disease should be properly managed.

Digital radiography has more than arrived. It is overwhelming film-based systems. And GE Healthcare has the proof, announcing at the RSNA meeting the 4000th shipment of its Revolution digital x-ray detector-based system.

Researchers may be ready to set aside traditional pen and paper for performing data entry in large clinical trials. Not only do investigators prefer their digital counterparts, but those devices also lead to a reduction in data entry errors.

Low-dose, whole-body CT not only provides a very sensitive diagnosis of osteolytic bone lesions, but it can also serve as an alternative to costly MR studies and replace time-consuming x-ray skeletal surveys, according to a presentation Tuesday.

Interventional radiologists can now see liver tumors freezing in real-time on MR imaging as they perform thermal ablation, according to Harvard researchers.

Hospitals that archive digital mammograms in their PACS must plan for network modifications to handle the transfer of very large data sets and prepare for significantly increased archival storage requirements.

How well a patient can count, remember word lists, or perform other basic tests may not indicate how far Alzheimer’s dementia has progressed biologically, researchers said Wednesday afternoon.

The SenoScan2 slot scanning digital mammography (SSDM) system from Fischer Imaging is being introduced at the RSNA meeting. Fischer designs, manufactures, and markets medical imaging systems for screening and diagnosis.

It’s been awhile since the imaging community paid much attention to open MR. But several products being exhibited this week at the RSNA meeting could perk up interest.

A topic can be so dynamic it defies easy explanation. This was the case Monday as Michael E. Phelps, Ph.D, circumnavigated the subject of molecular imaging in his presentation of the 2004 Pendergrass New Horizons lecture.

Today was the kind of day I like at the RSNA meeting. I reviewed some old stuff, learned some new stuff, and had some great laughs.

The drum beat for the next generation of CT scanners began the moment visitors to the RSNA meeting set foot on the exhibit floor Sunday. Siemens, GE, Philips, and Toshiba are either shipping 64-slice scanners or plan to do so next year. At the RSNA meeting, Toshiba is focusing primarily on its 64-slice scanner, which is now in full production, while offering its 32-slice version, also in production, as an economical alternative. The Aquilion 32 is priced at $200,000 below the $1.5 million list price of the Aquilion 64.

Hybrid imaging dominates the nuclear medicine section of the RSNA exhibit floor. Philips and Siemens are promoting multislice SPECT/CT, while GE, which pioneered the idea five years ago, is showing an upgraded version of its Infinia gamma camera coupled to a single-slice, nondiagnostic CT for attenuation correction.

Instead of scrounging for informatics training from grand rounds speakers or random presentations, residents at one medical center can now take advantage of an informatics-specific curriculum.

Radiologists need to communicate with referring physicians more often and listen more closely to orthopedics surgeons’ reporting preferences, according to the results of University of California, San Diego survey that were announced Tuesday at the RSNA meeting.

Even highly experienced radiologists can overlook cancers, a fact that bedevils breast imagers. Double reading has been shown to help inexperienced readers and increase cancer detection rates. It turns out that even old hands at mammography can also benefit from the practice.

Wherever self-referral guru Dr. David Levin goes, controversy is sure to follow. Tuesday morning’s refresher course on self-referral was no different.

Breast tomosynthesis may be a work-in-progress in the RSNA exhibit halls, but researchers are already considering ways to incorporate computer-assisted detection algorithms to improve its efficacy.

Full-field digital mammography is comparable to screen-film in detecting breast cancer, according to results of a randomized trial in Norway involving nearly 25,000 women.

Perforation rates for a CT colonography, while still low and acceptable, are fast approaching those of traditional optical colonoscopy.