CT

Next week at the SNM meeting, Hitachi Medical Systems America (HMSA) will unveil a new version of its Sceptre PET system, one dedicated to cardiac applications. The system, called SceptreC, is configured to use rubidium-82 to gauge myocardial perfusion and fluorine-18 FDG to assess myocardial viability.

FDA clearances dipped in April compared with their spike in March, but the latest month put the industry back on track with previous years’ performance, outshining five of the past six Aprils with 28. That brings the total to 80 clearances this year -- in the ballpark with, though still lagging behind, industry performance since 2000.

A shortage of nuclear medicine physicians and the growing responsibilities of nuclear medicine technologists has spurred the Society of Nuclear Medicine to offer seed money for institutions to develop curriculum suitable for creating supertechs.

MR colonography has yet to capture radiologists' imagination to the same extent as CT. But the radiation-free exam has a bright future, especially if stool-tagging techniques can avoid the need for bowel cleansing, according to speakers at ECR 2006.

Cool-tip RF ablation ready for marketToshiba makes 600th 64-slice CTiCAD recruits new executive

Emory operates 64-slice PET/CTIMV study shows ultrasound expanding

Medrad CT injectors notch milestoneHologic ushers Discovery into cardiovascular assessmentEpix CEO resignsRadiologix revenues, earnings riseNightHawk reports quarterly lossAlliance revenues edge up in Q1

UltraRAD cuts distribution dealGE installs first BrightSpeedARRS presenters cut dose, speed read

Scintimammography with a traditional gamma camera has limitations, including poor spatial resolution, excessive lesion-to-detector distance, and inability to image in multiple positions or positions comparable to mammography. Recent advances in technology, however, have led to the development of high-resolution breast-specific gamma cameras that easily fit into a breast imaging practice. Researchers have found this technology useful in evaluating indeterminate mammograms, particularly in women with dense breasts and a family history of breast cancer.

Minimally invasive CT colonography has been embraced by radiologists and patients alike. As the technique evolves, its use is shifting from specialized academic centers to community hospitals and private practices. That transition is focusing increased attention on reimbursement, clinical efficacy, and interpretation issues. Computer-aided detection for CTC could affect all three.

I have a personal interest in finding better ways of treating stroke. My favorite uncle was struck down by one in 1994, just as I was reporting on how the combination of tPA and head CT could produce miracles.

A powerful clinical case can be made for using cardiac CT angiography as a screening tool to help avoid cardiac catheterization. But does the technique make financial sense in nonemergent cases? A new cost-effectiveness study says yes -- if the price is right.

Buffalo psychologist Jamie Shiffner, Ph.D., beat the odds. The acute stroke patient was lucky enough to have everything go right after being struck down. With ischemic stroke, time is brain. Within moments of Shiffner's collapse at home on the evening of April 11, 2005, millions of neurons in his brain began dying every minute. The left side of Shiffner's body went numb, and attempts to talk resulted in nonsense phrases.

The typical CT exam exposes patients to the equivalent of between 100 and 250 chest x-rays. This fact escapes most physicians, including radiologists, according to Dianna D. Cody, Ph.D., chief of radiologic physics at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Volume Interactions launches 3D workstation at surgical meetingFDA clears wide-bore CT from GE Amicas licenses workflow managerPhilips partners to diagnose lung disease

Current 64-slice CT scanners with improved temporal resolution enable detection of subtle regional changes in good correlation with clinical reference standards, according to a study presented this month at the annual meeting of the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance.

Less than a week after going public with its intent to acquire Suros Surgical, Hologic announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire R2 Technology, the acknowledged pioneer of computer-aided detection. The stock swap is valued at $220 million. With the Suros deal (valued at $240 million) already on the table, Hologic now has about a half-billion dollars in transactions in the works.

Coronary CT angiography has clocked impressive numbers to detect or rule out coronary artery stenosis. But do these numbers hold up when uninterpretable data are factored into the results? The answer is yes and no, according to a study presented at the annual meeting this month of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance.

The reconstruction of CT data lags far behind acquisition, creating a gulf that widens with each new generation of scanners. The problem is most pronounced on the leading edge of clinical use: cardiovascular, fluoroscopic, and interventional applications.

Revenue from the delivery of new CT units in the U.S. last year grew 15% compared with the previous year, and unit volume rose about 3%, making 2005 the best sales year in the history of the modality. The availability of 64-slice scanners capable of coronary CT angiography led the industry to those heights. This year, however, vendors are just hoping to hold onto last year’s gains.

Colonic diverticular disease does not necessarily spoil CT colonography, according to a study by University of Wisconsin researchers. There is a caveat, though: Radiologists must apply a 3D imaging approach.

Start-up to promote ventures in 64-slice CTCerner to work with medical school

PET/CT has a promising role in the diagnosis of diabetic foot infections, according to cumulative data by Dr. Zohar Keidar, deputy director of nuclear medicine at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.

U.S. hospitals operate with SpineAssistDoD awards grant to develop advanced MR systemMedQuest appoints new chief financial officer

Congressional moves to cut Medicare payments for outpatient imaging procedures tops the list of what worries executives at Toshiba America Medical Systems. But reimbursement problems won’t stop the company from developing and promoting new imaging technologies.

A new three-phase contrast administration protocol that involves the simultaneous injection of contrast and saline during coronary CT angiography allows improved visualization of the right heart, according to researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Vendors are off to a slow start this year in terms of FDA clearances, managing just 17 in February for a total of 38 for 2006. Only once in the last six years has the industry done worse: In 2004, FDA reviewers cleared just 35 devices in the first two months of the year.

Challenges remain for PET/CT in diagnosing lung cancer. Key among them is bolstering detection without increasing false positives. But in several studies presented at the 2005 RSNA meeting, researchers explored the quantitative data derived by the hybrid technique, and their findings could move PET/CT closer to practical use for this application.

The government plans to spend nearly $800,000 to determine the strategic importance of nuclear medicine research, according to National Institutes of Health chief Dr. Elias Zerhouni. Society of Nuclear Medicine president Dr. Peter Conti is encouraged about the initiative.

No development since I began covering medical imaging in late 1997 has generated the level of excitement and potential for change as the 64-slice CT scanner. Plenty has happened in those years: the flourishing of CAD and virtual colonoscopy, 3T MR and parallel processing, continued advancements in ultrasound, PET/CT and SPECT/CT fusion imaging, and the ascendancy of PACS and imaging informatics.