Low-dose CT can effectively replace plain film in cases of acute abdominal pain, with benefits for clinical diagnosis, according to a study by Swedish researchers presented at the European Congress of Radiology.

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.

The French subsidiary of German pharmaceutical giant Schering will transfer the radiopharmaceutical business of CIS bio international to a consortium formed by the Belgian companies Ion Beam Applications and the Institut National des Radio-éléments. As part of the transaction, agreed upon Feb. 22, the consortium will acquire Schering’s current radiopharmaceutical business, while Schering continues to focus on MR, CT, optical, and molecular imaging. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2006.

A digital chip that pumps fluids rather than electrons is being groomed to synthesize and label PET radiopharmaceuticals. The chip, about the size of a postage stamp, promises to lower the overall cost of PET studies, while increasing the onsite options available to providers, according to a recent study.

Philips Medical Systems released the world’s first commercial time-of-flight PET/CT system March 3 at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna. The system, scheduled to begin shipping to sites in Europe and the U.S. in June, will more than double image sensitivity, according to the company, allowing users to either markedly improve image quality or cut scan time by a third or more.

Many people, probably too many, have stories about medical practice gone bad: the cancer that was missed, the medication that shouldn’t have been prescribed, the follow-up that wasn’t done.

Although color monitors are the standard for high-end workstations in the print and information technology industries, gray-scale displays are the mainstay for diagnostic reading and review, simply because they are brighter.

PACS must bridge the gap between radiology and the rest of medicine if it is to remain a relevant part of medical practice. The Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise initiative wants to lend a hand.

Use of ultrasound elastography, which measures the elastic properties of tissues, may help reduce the rate of biopsies in benign lesions by half, according to new results from a British breast cancer screening program.

A whole-body PET/CT scan can be used to stage and further pinpoint cancers spotted on optical colonoscopy, a research team for Essen University reported Monday. The team also reported that PET/CT scans may be useful in restaging recurrent breast cancer.

Philips Medical Systems chose opening day of the ECR to release the world’s first commercial time-of-flight PET/CT system. The system, scheduled to begin shipping to sites in Europe and the U.S. in June, will more than double image sensitivity, according to the company, allowing users to either markedly improve image quality or cut scan time by a third or more.

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.

A new application of a standard imaging technique promises to afford earlier detection of a common long-term complication in total hip replacement.

Low-dose CT can effectively replace plain film in cases of acute abdominal pain, with benefits for clinical diagnosis, according to a study by Swedish researchers presented at the ECR Friday afternoon.

The heart and kidneys appear in their true surroundings in this fusion of science and art composed by scientist turned photojournalist Andrew Tsiaras. The images were shown in the Philips Medical Systems booth during the RSNA meeting as tools to help physicians communicate with their patients. (These and other images have also been exhibited and published in books for the general public.) The images are based initially on data sets acquired using Philips CT scanners and processed into 3D, but the finished product definitely does not come from these modalities. Tsiaras and his team at Anatomical Travelogue use the volumetric models as their electronic canvases, painting pseudorealistic landscapes of the inner body-inserting plaques into coronaries, ballooning the carotid into an aneurysm ready to burst-always basing their work on documented gross pathologies. The goal, according to Tsiaras, is to bring the effect of poor health habits to the minds of viewers and, maybe, in the process, effect a change for the better. (Images created by Anatomical Travelogue in partnership with Philips Medical Systems)

Any reputation for excellence that Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia might have tends to be eclipsed by its larger academic neighbors. Dr. Robert Worthington-Kirsch, however, wouldn't trade the small-town flavor of Roxborough Memorial for the publish-or-perish world of academic centers. It helps that he doesn't need to, as he is one of a handful of successful solo interventional radiology practitioners in the nation.

Philips Medical Systems has developed software that learns how technologists set up MR scans, then takes over for its human mentor.

Although musculoskeletal radiologists have long debated the relative roles of MRI and ultrasound in imaging shoulder injuries, they have reached consensus on a number of diagnostic algorithms. But the proliferation of inexpensive, low-end compact ultrasound systems has introduced a new controversy.

After reviewing the clinical literature on ultrasound imaging of the shoulder, Dr. David Stoller, director of musculoskeletal MRI at the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, concluded that a significant amount of data was either flawed or inaccurate.

Hot on the heels of a successful 3D workstation face-off at last year's meeting, the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance this year has invited PACS vendors to submit their systems for what will be the first ever PACS showdown.