CT

After installing a 64-slice CT system at Metroplex Hospital in Killeen, TX, radiologists invited asymptomatic referring physicians to undergo a free heart scan and experience the new technology firsthand. After a coronary CT angiogram, three of the doctors left with an appreciation for the new scanner- along with a diagnosis of heart disease.

Among European radiologists, concerns about ionizing radiation exposure give MR an edge in specific applications, including colorectal cancer screening in younger patient populations. But in the U.S., such concerns have not dampened enthusiasm for CT, particularly in neurovascular studies.

Imaging reconstruction software that “unfolds” the colon wall flat could greatly shorten reading time for CT colonography. Researchers from Argentina have found no significant differences in diagnostic accuracy between the “filet view” and conventional CTC in the first study comparing both virtual colonoscopy techniques.

New software from GE Healthcare can cut the average time needed to read a coronary CT angiogram to less than five minutes. Early use at Tennessee Heart and Vascular of the CardIQ Xpress, unveiled March 13 at the American College of Cardiology conference, resulted in physician reviews of 10 to 12 cardiac CTAs per hour.

Toshiba launches dual-panel system at ACC showAn angiography system that supports both cardiac and peripheral applications debuted March 11 in the Toshiba America Medical Systems booth during the American College of Cardiology meeting. Infinix DP-i/FD2, which incorporates two flat-panel detectors, meets ACC guidelines for both types of applications, according to the company. The system features an 8 x 8-inch floor-mounted cardiac C-arm and a 12 x 16-inch ceiling-mounted C-arm. The design allows coronary and vascular studies on the same table, increasing overall patient comfort and saving time that would otherwise be lost moving the patient to a second system.

The FDA was good to the radiology industry in 2005. For the third time in as many years -- and the fourth in the last five -- the regulatory agency cleared more than 300 radiological products. The last quarter could have been better, however.

State-of-the-art 64-slice CT is proving its worth as a potent noninvasive tool for imaging coronary arteries, but it has some noteworthy limitations, according to research presented at the ECR on Tuesday.

CT and MR angiography both provided more clinically useful information than duplex ultrasound in screening peripheral vascular disease. But when costs are factored in, CT emerged as the clear leader, according to a four-hospital study conducted in the Netherlands and described Saturday.

New computer-aided detection programs help less experienced readers find clinically significant polyps with CT colonography, but they prove less useful for experts, according to three studies presented at the ECR on Saturday.

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 from the U.S. and Greece at ECR on Friday.

Nuclear cardiology has a new heavyweight contender, a gamma camera with a table capacity of 440 pounds, a gantry bore of 27.5 inches, and digital detectors that make the most of tough situations.

Who will speak for cardiac CT? Apparently, no one, when the setting is the annual business meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine has launched an online learning program that will enable physicians to earn continuing medical education credits and satisfy stricter new certification requirements at their leisure. Registration is now open for oncology PET and oncology PET/CT.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine's recently launched Lifelong Learning and Self-Assessment Program offers online modules to help physicians comply with new maintenance of certification requirements, including 20 nuclear medicine-specific CME credits every year.

Physicians who plan to perform cardiac CT are in for a surprise. Neither radiologists nor cardiologists are qualified to render diagnoses from multislice CT studies without undergoing more training. The supply of qualified teachers and training slots falls far short of the demands of users to learn this new technology.

Before considering revascularization procedures, surgeons want proof of ischemia. While catheter angiography has value in assessing lesions associated with coronary artery disease, it cannot assess the associated ischemia. PET imaging is increasingly being used to provide that information. With the rise of multislice CT angiography as a first-line test for patients with suspected CAD, researchers have set their sights on integrated PET/CT for combined acquisition of coronary anatomy and perfusion.

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.

The Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health are collaborating on a three-quarter of a million dollar study to determine the importance of nuclear medicine research and to recommend ways to overcome problems that have dogged its pursuit.

Contrast agents that can aid MRA examinations have been on the market for more than 15 years. Historically, radiologists could choose from a wide range of agents that, once injected intravenously, would flow through the extracellular space. They would then be excreted from the body relatively rapidly. These extracellular contrast agents are now being joined by a new class of blood pool, or intravascular, contrast agents that bind with molecules in the blood and stay in the circulation for longer.

MR physics dictates that the faster the blood flow, the better the likelihood of quality vessel imaging. Attaining this goal in clinical practice is clearly difficult, given the need for patients to lie still on an MR table for up to 45 minutes. The problem of sluggish blood flow is further compounded in patients with circulatory problems. Yet these are the very individuals who may require MR angiography the most.

After twice considering and rejecting endorsement of CT colonography as a cancer screening tool, the American Cancer Society is taking another look. Prompted by advances in reporting standards, technique, and training, the ACS may include the virtual colonoscopy technique as an optional test in its colon cancer screening guidelines by year's end. Such a move, coupled by favorable results from a national clinical trial, could push CTC into the practice mainstream, bolstering adoption, furthering development of computer-aided detection, and most important, fostering reimbursement.

Since the introduction of cardiac catheterization in the 1940s, development and implementation of cardiovascular imaging techniques have been a collaborative effort among several specialties, particularly radiology and cardiology. Many pioneers in CV imaging have held joint appointments.

Who will speak for cardiac CT? No one, when the setting is the annual business meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

If the corporate world were a circus, Analogic would be the high wire act. The Peabody, MA, company has struck a fine balance between being an electronics supplier and being a manufacturer of end user equipment.

Imaging equipment manufacturers are getting their first taste of an advanced processor that could boost the speed of image reconstruction by several orders of magnitude while delivering better image quality.

The release of Siemens' Somatom Definition may forever change CT. The scanner, unveiled just days before the RSNA meeting and featured at the Siemens booth on the exhibit floor, combines two 64-slice scanners in one, incorporating two x-ray tubes and two detectors. Together, they generate 128 slices every 330 msec. The new product is distinguished less by number of slices or even the novelty of two imaging chains, however, that by what the technology can do: double temporal resolution and cut acquisition time in half.

A few years back I made a bet that molecular imaging would become nothing more than a synonym for nuclear medicine. At the time it made sense, what with companies parking their gamma cameras and PET/CTs under this title. But since then, you might say I’ve seen the light.

R2 Technology is leveraging knowledge gained in developing computer-aided detection to make products easier and more efficient to use.

Israeli start-up Spectrum Dynamics has developed technology that can generate 10 times the sensitivity and double the spatial resolution of conventional Anger cameras, according to the company. Such dramatic increases raise the possibility of real-time imaging that shows the perfusion of one or more radiotracers through the myocardium introducing a radical change in the way cardiac patients are evaluated.