Ultrasound

At least one patch of radiology turf seems to be well under control. Radiologists perform the biggest share of vascular ultrasound studies by far, according to a new study of Medicare data.

Medison’s 3D Extended Imaging (3D XI) ultrasound image processing technology is now available on the SonoAce 8000 Live, its 3D ultrasound system specialized for ob/gyn, the company announced at the RSNA meeting.

Toshiba is introducing the latest improvements to its Aplio and Xario ultrasound systems at the 2005 RSNA meeting. The Aplio system has been enhanced with the company’s exclusive expanded Differential Tissue Harmonic Imaging (DTHI), while the Xario features 4D imaging.

TeraRecon unveiled two digital, multi-functional, color Doppler systems targeted for the portable ultrasound market on Sunday at the RSNA meeting. With the UF-785XTD and the UF-780XTD, the company is attempting to bring the functionality of portable ultrasound systems a step closer to cart-based machines.

Philips introduced its new HD11 XE ultrasound system, the HD3 portable ultrasound system, and Vision 2005 upgrades to its iU22 ultrasound system at the RSNA meeting Sunday.

In less than two weeks, TeraRecon will unveil two new products for the burgeoning and increasingly sophisticated portable ultrasound market. Both are multifunctional, digital, and ultraportable color Doppler systems.

It’s easy to get lost in the RSNA shuffle, espeically if you’re competing with multimillion-dollar MR and CT systems. Hundreds of exhibitors each year introduce noteworthy products that go virtually unnoticed. Some can even fit in the palm of your hand.

Kodak readies FDA pitch for CR mammographyThe next step in Kodak’s push to expand its market for computed radiography in mammography to the U.S. is under way. The company has begun the submission process to the FDA to approve its CR system for the detection of breast cancer. It plans to submit a series of “modules” for agency review. The first ones will contain manufacturing and nonclinical information regarding the DirectView CR 850, CR 950, and CR 975 systems. Kodak, which is selling CR mammography products outside the U.S., is currently conducting clinical trials of its digital mammography system at sites in the U.S. and Canada.If and when these systems appear in the U.S., they will not be the first such products (DI SCAN 10/10/05). Fuji began marketing CR technology for mammography in 1983 but voluntarily removed those products in the mid-1990s, when the FDA changed its position on digital mammography and required PMA review. Fuji turned in the final module of its premarket approval submission in March. Fuji executives believe approval of their CR mammography product is imminent.

The U.S. Senate last week passed a budget reconciliation bill that includes an amendment to fund a one-time ultrasound screening for abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Molecular imaging tracers, agents, and probes have been cast in a new tactical assemblage designed to improve investigational drug evaluations.

Although conventional x-ray hystero-salpingography remains the modality of choice to diagnose infertility, cumulative evidence seems to be tilting the scales in favor of 3D ultrasound.

Journal articles this month review complications and side effects brought on by radiofrequency ablation and other tumor ablation techniques and profile new technologies for tumor ablation procedures.

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine has updated its policy on fetal ultrasound studies performed without medical indications. Though the revised statement still targets keepsake imaging entrepreneurs, the new language looks at potential ethical violations by accredited ultrasound practitioners as well.

Ultrasound is undergoing a renaissance of sorts, as progress along familiar lines creates a critical mass of clinical capability.

Although ultrasound use in medicine continues to grow, the modality faces increasingly stiff competition from other modalities such as CT, MRI, and PET, which have undergone startling advances in the past several years. To respond to this competition, radiologists can employ several rapidly developing new technologies to enhance ultrasound's capabilities. With speckle reduction, volumetric imaging, and elastography, sonographers can reduce artifacts, improve image contrast, reduce image noise, and better gauge tissue stiffness to detect subtle hard-to-spot abnormalities. Proper use of these powerful new technologies can boost accuracy, repeatability, and efficiency to help keep ultrasound competitive with the other cross-sectional imaging modalities and perhaps open up new applications.

Multislice CT has certain advantages over ultrasound in the diagnosis of portal vein thrombosis, and clinicians are beginning to notice, according to an educational poster at the 2005 European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology meeting in Florence.

Ultrasound plus confirmatory fine-needle aspiration cytology can reliably diagnose melanoma metastases, including those less than 6 mm in diameter. Use of the technique enabled over 12% of patients with lymph node metastases to undergo immediate lymph node dissection without the need for prior sentinel node dissection, according to a German study presented at the 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando.

A new contrast-based Doppler ultrasound technique can predict within the first two weeks of treatment which patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) will respond to Gleevec (imatinib) therapy, according to a study presented at the 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando.

Doves like truces. A truce gives the two sides a chance to enjoy peace, if only for a short time. Maybe they’ll like it enough to stop fighting altogether, or so the thinking goes.

The shared services market for ultrasound is evolving. Practice patterns long established in Asia and Europe are cropping up in the U.S., prompting midsize and even large hospitals to buy ultrasound scanners designed for cardiological as well as radiological applications, according to Philips Medical Systems.

Doves like truces. A truce gives the two sides a chance to enjoy peace, if only for a short time. Maybe they’ll like it enough to stop fighting altogether, or so the thinking goes.

Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia have performed real-time functional cardiac MRI in fetuses. Theirs is the first report of this technique, which may represent an advance over the current gold standard of fetal echocardiography.

Doppler ultrasonography with perfusion software and contrast agent injection can be used to predict which patients with metastatic renal cell cancer will respond to treatment with the antiangiogenic drug sorafenib, according to a study presented at the 2005 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Orlando.

Near-infrared light used with ultrasound can zero in on early-stage breast tumors, potentially reducing the number of biopsies, according to a study in the October issue of Radiology.