CT

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One of the most interesting topics in science today is the relationship between the mind and the brain. Its study is being propelled particularly by the use of nuclear medicine imaging, and this theme was echoed throughout the 2007 SNM meeting.

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Vendors have employed a multitude of approaches to cut patient radiation dose by making data acquisition and analysis more efficient. Software has been developed to adjust dose to fit different body types and segments. Methods to factor in body weight, particularly when scanning children, have been considered. Step-and-shoot protocols have been devised to eliminate the overlap that comes from spiral scanning.

Cardiac CT angiography holds the key to finding diseases outside of the coronary arteries -- if, that is, diagnosticians are willing to look.

Competitors to x-ray mammography may be mounting a serious challenge to the long-standing technology. Research has determined that MR and nuclear medicine can detect ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), which can develop into an invasive form of breast cancer, much earlier than mammography can.

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Big-ticket items are suffering this year as reimbursement cuts resulting from the Deficit Reduction Act have had a wider and longer lasting effect than initially expected. Particularly hard hit has been PET/CT. The hybrid juggernaut had defied the odds for several years, marching forward with ever higher sales despite utilization rates at individual sites that allowed plenty of unused capacity.

The growing field of molecular imaging is helping nuclear medicine physicians identify pathways into personalized patient care. This overall assessment informed Dr. Henry Wagner's 30th annual highlights lecture at the 2007 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting held in June in Washington, DC. Neuroimaging seems set to become the next new thing.

Rapid technological developments, in terms of both instrumentation and radiopharmaceuticals, are making nuclear medicine an increasingly relevant part of daily clinical practice, according to Prof. Peter Ell, director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine at University College London.&qu

Radiologist interest in whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI for cancer applications is intensifying following preliminary studies that demonstrate its potential value for staging cancer. Whole-body DWI produces a composite image using a STIR echo-planar diffusion-weighted technique with a high b-value for background suppression.

Using special software to fuse myocardial perfusion SPECT and CT angiography data acquired on separate scanners could be a cost-effective alternative for the diagnosis of patients with suspected myocardial disease, according to two studies presented at the 2007 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting.

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The seeds for what could be a new and much faster way of CT scanning will be planted next week, when researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill unveil an approach involving nanotube x-ray sources and multiplexed data transmission.

The importance of CT protocols that limit patient exposure to radiation became more evident this week with publication of research suggesting that routine screening with coronary CT angiography could pose an increased lifetime risk of cancer.

Radiology and nuclear medicine are the focal points of proposed Medicare reforms that would bundle reimbursement in 2008 for seven categories of ancillary services covered by the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System.

The American College of Cardiology-backed Task Force on Clinical Competence will extend a certification deadline by two years, enabling more physicians to qualify to perform and interpret cardiac CT.

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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are partnering with Michigan hospitals to examine whether coronary CT angiography, under certain circumstances, can be used as a complement or replacement for cardiac catheterization.

Current PET/CT scanners wrongly indicate coronary disease in up to 40% of patients, according to a study published this month in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

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MR and CT can be the key to explaining sudden hearing loss. Explanations are most commonly associated with a benign tumor of the acoustic nerve, commonly called an acoustic neuroma but more appropriately described as a vestibular schwannoma. But radiologists may have to look elsewhere to find the answer in patients with a genetic disorder called von Hippel-Lindau disease. Again, however, MR may hold the key.

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have developed a shareware nuclear medicine PACS software package that includes a display for fused PET/CT studies. It is freely available on the Internet, according to a web-exclusive article in the June issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Siemens Medical Solutions is installing its dual-source CT in new, uncharted territory -- hospital departments the company has never before approached -- and is finding a welcome reception for the clinically versatile platform.

When the Mayo Clinic’s nuclear medicine PACS grew in complexity to the point that a monitoring program was needed to ensure that technical issues did not degrade performance, nothing satisfactory could be found on the commercial market.

FDG-PET/CT can accurately tell which lung cancer patients will have a successful response to chemotherapy, and therefore a longer survival, and which will not, according to a study in the May issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Findings may have important implications for patient management.

Barco has put an interactive twist on the fusion of PET and CT data sets. The company demonstrated software at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine meeting (June 7 to 10) that allows the user to blend data from CT and PET data sets to varying degrees, creating images that show more or less anatomic and functional data, at the user’s discretion.

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