CT

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The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) has announced that the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, will remain shut down until Feb. 16, 2009, raising the possibility of another four months of molybdenum-99 shortages for thousands of European nuclear imaging services.

An antioxidant contained in red table wine could one day prove effective as protection against radiation from a nuclear attack, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh researchers.

The High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, the primary source for the molybdenum-99 crucial to diagnostic nuclear imaging in Europe, will remain shut down until at least the end of November while officials devise a strategy to plug a gas leak.

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Industry sources blame a shortage of molybdenum-99 that is expected to frustrate nuclear medicine providers into mid-October on sheer bad luck, not a lack of cooperation between facilities.

A Boston Children's Hospital survey of 16 selected procedures at 13 pediatric hospitals in North America found a wide variation in radiopharmaceutical doses administered during nuclear medicine exams. The report reveals a need for consensus among nuclear physicians on appropriate doses for young patients.

European hospitals and nuclear medicine clinics are taking action to prevent an acute shortage of medical isotopes from harming patients.

Office released a major report on the growth of Medicare Part B imaging services at the same time the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued sweeping rules that target self-referred imaging services.

Covidien has alerted customers for its technetium-99m generators about impending shortages caused by the unexpected shutdown of the Dutch nuclear reactor that serves as its main source of molybdenum-99.

An unscheduled shutdown of the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands has raised concern about a possible interruption of molybdenum-99 supplies for nuclear medicine procedures in Europe and North America.

Philips Healthcare put a new twist on SPECT/CT with the unveiling at the SNM meeting in June of a hybrid that incorporates a flat-panel x-ray system in place of the typical multislice CT. The novel combination is attuned specifically to the needs of specialists in nuclear medicine, said Jay Mazelsky, senior vice president and general manager of Philips nuclear medicine.

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The number of students taking radiography and radiation therapy examinations for the first time slowed in 2007, signaling that educational programs are scaling back admissions and the pool of qualified technologists is meeting practice demand. Only nuclear medicine saw a sharp increase -- 17.1 % over 2006 -- although those numbers too are expected to decline, according to the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

MDS has filed a $1.6 billion breach of contract lawsuit against Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the Canadian government for their decision in May to halt development of a twin nuclear reactor complex designed to provide a long-term supply of molybdenum-99, to be refined and distributed by MDS.

A survey of children’s imaging services has found a twofold variation in radiopharmaceutical doses administered during pediatric nuclear medicine exams. For some radiopharmaceuticals, the reported maximum activities varied by as much as a factor of 10, and minimum activities differed by as much as a factor of 20, suggesting the need for a consensus among nuclear physicians on appropriate doses for young patients.

Pending clinical trial results played a pivotal role in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' decision in March to set aside plans to establish a national payment policy for outpatient multislice coronary CT angiography. Other published trials advanced our understanding of how nuclear cardiology, echocardiography, and cardiac MRI fit in evolving diagnostic practice.

Several radiology-related professional societies have joined forces to urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to approve national Medicare coverage for CT colonography to screen patients for colorectal cancer.

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Society of Nuclear Medicine officials say the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is manipulating the definition of radiopharmaceuticals to artificially deflate its payment rates for radioactive imaging agents essential to nuclear and molecular imaging practice.

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Liver resection for metastatic colon cancer is painful and debilitating enough, without a patient’s subsequent discovery that the surgery did nothing to halt disease progression. A multicenter prospective trial presented Monday at the Society of Nuclear Medicine conference in New Orleans found that FDG-PET prevents unnecessary surgeries for one of six patients who undergo liver resection based on CT findings.