From Diagnosis to Intervention

A CT-based lung cancer screening strategy that combines tumor morphology and tumor doubling times to evaluate cancer risk is producing good results, according to interim data from a Dutch-Belgian screening trial presented at the ECR.

ECR attendees glimpsed a workstation in the Sectra booth that could be the forerunner of a new way of handling and interpreting data from medical imaging scans. Greg Freiherr has the story from the exhibit floor of ECR 2009.

If radiologists could design the perfect modality for guiding interventional procedures, the resulting technology would undoubtedly produce high-quality images without exposing patients to any ionizing radiation. So given the widespread availability of MRI, why are so many interventions still performed in the angiography suite?

Coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, chest tightness, and an abnormal breathing pattern are common indications of lung disease. The question is which one?

It wasn’t too long ago that ultrasound was a roiling sea of innovation and new product releases, spurred by a rivalry among Diasonics, ATL, Hewlett-Packard (Agilent Technologies), and Acuson. Since these companies’ acquisition by GE, Philips, and Siemens, the waters have calmed. Supersonic Imagine plans to begin making some waves -- and soon.

Mountaineering metaphors provided the framework for Sunday’s Josef Lissner honorary lecture: Ode to the liver.

Radiologists should be clinically focused when handling HIV cases, according to a leading chest expert. They must know if patients are drug-naïve or whether they are already on antiretroviral therapy. It is also important to determine how they acquired their HIV, whether onset is acute or more gradual, and how profoundly unwell the patients feel.

Crystal-ball gazing reached new levels at ECR on Saturday, when Prof. Dieter Enzmann took delegates on “a trip to radiology Tomorrowland,” as he referred to his W.C. Röntgen honorary lecture.

Rheumatoid arthritis, which affects approximately 2.9 million people in Europe, can be difficult to differentiate from other forms of arthritis. Without an early diagnosis, however, it is impossible to assess the true effect of promising early intervention strategies. Could an alternative diagnostic imaging strategy be the answer?