RSNA 2007

An overwhelming majority of the audience at an RSNA special focus session Thursday voted in favor of keeping up the efforts to get FDA approval for the use of contrast ultrasound for general radiology applications.

Radiologists who wonder why diagnostic imaging has been targeted for utilization constraints need only examine the Medicare B experience from 2000 to 2005. Medicare payments for outpatient medical imaging rose 93% during that period from $6 billion to more than $11 billion. The increase reflected a shift in preference to high-cost, high-tech modalities, especially CT and MR. Utilization among cardiologists exploded.

The lack of an effective, detailed workup algorithm for positive results in multicenter lung cancer screening trials results in a lower cancer yield from invasive procedures and later diagnoses for participants, according to a new study presented at the RSNA meeting.

Professional attendance at the 2007 RSNA meeting saw a 3% increase compared with last year. Society officers credit a large contingent of international attendees for the rising figures.

Medison America spotlights the Accuvix V10 this week at the RSNA meeting. The ultrasound scanner, which appeared last year as a work-in-progress, cleared the FDA in spring. It supports 3D/4D imaging, as well as spectral, color, and power Doppler.

The palm-sized Acuson P10 ultrasound scanner appears this week as a commercial product from Siemens Medical Solutions along with the laptop-based Acuson P50. The P50 is designed for mobile environments but is outfitted with diagnostic-level capabilities, including high-quality gray-scale as well as color and Doppler imaging. Its primary applications will be in cardiology and vascular imaging.

Toshiba America Medical Systems upgraded its Xario XG and Aplio ultrasound sytems with three transducers, each capable of volumetric scanning. The additions expand the range of these systems, which previously had depended on only one transducer for 4D imaging. The transducers can be applied to transvaginal/obstetric, prostate, small parts including breast, testes, and thyroid, and abdominal scanning.

Vantage Titan, a wide-bore 1.5T scanner, highlights MR offerings from Toshiba America Medical Systems at the RSNA meeting this week. The work-in-progress features a bore 18% wider than any 1.5T scanner currently on the market, according to the company. A specially designed gradient system offers an amplitude of 30 and a slew rate of 130 to expand the field-of-view.

In what is possibly the largest study in its kind, Harvard University researchers have shown that PET/CT can reliably tell whether unsuspected adrenal lesions discovered while managing oncologic patients are benign or malignant.

Information ttechnology is keeping tabs on referring doctors’ inappropriate study orders and could be useful in automatically tracking imaging follow-up to ensure radiologists’ advice is heeded, according to presentations at an informatics session on Wednesday.

Merge Healthcare has become the first U.S. RIS/PACS company to enter the fast-growing teleradiology market, offering a service that gives U.S.-based radiologists consultation interpretations provided by radiologists based in India.

A new ultrasound system and an upgrade to an existing product from Esoate address interest in compact ultrasound.

The hierarchy of ultrasound systems at Hitachi Medical Systems America has a new flagship. Particularly noteworthy on the HI Vision 900 is an elastographic capability that characterizes pathologies based on ultrasonic measurements of the relative stiffness of tissue.

The S-2000 ultrasound scanner, takes shape this week as a new commercial product at the high end of the Siemens Medical Systems’ ultrasound portfolio. The S-2000, cleared by the FDA in mid-October, does not replace the Sequoia, Siemens’ flagship since it acquired ultrasound pioneer Acuson six years ago. Instead, it complements the system, according to Siemens executives, by combining best-of-breed technologies from Sequoia with Siemens’ ultrasound platforms developed prior to the Acuson acquisition.

The latest evolution of GE Healthcare's Signa HD x (high definition x) platform offers MR pulse sequences that overcome barriers to diagnostic scans in some difficult-to-image patients. The xt version, shown at the RSNA meeting, features two major innovations: 3D Cube and Ideal.

Radiologists must become more alert to the extensive range of health problems faced by patients who swallow fish bones, according to a thought-provoking poster from Spain that was one of eight international exhibits to scoop a prestigious Magna Cum Laude award in the vast RSNA 2007 poster hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Computer-aided detection figures prominently in the Siemens Medical Systems booth at this year’s RSNA meeting. The company is featuring packages for colon cancer, pulmonary embolism, and lung nodules in several work-in-progress versions.

Philips Medical Systems is showing this week its next-generation large-bore PET/CT at the RSNA meeting. The new hybrid, appearing as a work-in-progress, combines the Gemini TF (True Flight) PET/CT with time-of-flight technology and the Brilliance wide-bore CT. The PET/CT features an 85-cm diameter for both PET and CT. Included are simulation protocols, respiratory gating, and connectivity for data transfer in radiation oncology.