At many academic institutions and medical facilities, radiology informatics is still a nebulous entity that must address both clinical and technology needs. Teaching institutions across the nation are finding various ways to train physicians to meet the

Much emphasis has been placed on the effect of PACS implementation on a radiology department's productivity. Radiology informatics fellows may be well prepared for the technological revolution in their department, but how will it affect the department's

Great radiology schools are associated with extraordinary universities that honor a commitment to basic scientific research. Many medical breakthroughs occur in this environment, but many also arise elsewhere. The catalysts for excellent research vary widely but include geography, strategic alliances, social structures, and rogue visionaries. This report is not intended to be a comprehensive list of great radiology research institutions and people. But it will review how deliberate-and sometimes random-factors influence imaging across the globe.

Minimally invasive techniques for treatment of varicose veins show good long-term success rates, according to studies presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology meeting in Salt Lake City.

The use of telemedicine appears particularly promising in cardiovascular disease. Several barriers remain, however, not the least of them cost and contentious turf battles."It is anticipated that vendors will expand existing radiology PACS to cardiac

PACS is on the move in the only state-licensed and Medicare-certified mobile surgical suites in existence.The 20-foot mobile surgical units, which are transportable by land, sea, or air, can be deployed and ready for use within an hour. The suites

Dreaming up alternative meanings for the acronym PACS can be an amusing pursuit. Among the most witty that I have come across are: Promise Anything to Complete a Sale, Press Any key to Crash System, Products your Administrator Cannot Sell, and Picture

The informatics lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin is taking the fear out of filmless by creating an online community resource for PACS administrators.The noncommercial site -- ClubPACS http://radtutor.mcw.edu/clubpacs/ -- is intended to be an

Wireless PDAs and tablet PCs are poised to improve radiology workflow, according to a study presented at the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology meeting earlier this month.Wireless devices provide the ideal tool for a mobile radiologist,

New PACS software allows the storage of ultrasound cine-loops, which give surgeons an opportunity to better plan certain procedures based on ultrasound's functional evaluation of various organs. Dr. Peter Kovacs and colleagues from University Hospital in

Norway has one of the highest levels of public health spending per capita in Europe and the highest of all Scandinavian countries. About 35% of the state's annual budget, or 7% of gross national product, is spent on the health and social welfare system.

Besides facilitating filmless hospitals, PACS can also be an asset for hospitals with no radiologists. A teleradiology system in eastern North Carolina, for example, connects the PACS at Pitt County Memorial Hospital (PCMH) to six area hospitals who do

We have entered phase two of our department's filmless conversion. Phase one was the transfer of our digital modalities (CT, ultrasound, MRI, nucs) to soft copy. Phase two involves converting our radiographic and fluoroscopic modalities to a soft-copy

Ultrahigh-field MR scanner will be cornerstone of initiativePhilips Medical Systems has gotten atop a multimillion dollar R&D initiative in Ohio aimed at advancing the art of molecular imaging. The Dutch company will leverage its

Provox Technologies of Roanoke, VA, debuted a next-generation voice recognition (VR) solution at the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology (SCAR) annual meeting June 7 to 10 in Boston. TalkNotes RAD is the latest in the company's TalkNotes

Image Technology Laboratories of Kingston, NY, has signed Park Avenue Associates in Radiology of Johnson City, NY, to a multisite contract to deploy its ITL WarpSpeed PACS/RIS system. Three outpatient imaging sites will be integrated with both Internet

The latest version of electron-beam tomography, e-Speed, has been installed at Edward Heart Hospital in Naperville, IL. The hospital is among the first three sites in the world to install the EBT system, which GE Medical Systems acquired through its

HDI 5000 plays key role on orbiting space stationAstronauts onboard the International Space Station fired up an ultrasound scanner last fall to demonstrate the feasibility of remotely guided medical care. Shannon Melton from the

Sensant has created the first clinical images using a novel ultrasound technology that uses silicon-based transducers. The images of the carotid artery, breast, and musculoskeletal system were presented for comparison with conventionally made images at

First quarter results raise concerns about market viabilityPrices have begun eroding less than a year after the commercial release of 16-slice CT scanners, dipping below the magic million-dollar mark and possibly setting the stage