CT

Opponents of the government's plans to reduce technical payments for cross-sectional imaging of contiguous body parts and to apply the self-referral laws to nuclear medicine have until the end of this month to voice their disapproval.

Sixty-four slice CT makes all things radiologic better. The high spatial and temporal resolutions that work so well for cardiac imaging also improve other applications, especially vascular studies.

The ability to simultaneously display 3D anatomic and molecular information to evaluate lung cancer earned recognition from the Society of Nuclear Medicine in its choice of image of the year.

Electron-beam CT angiography topped catheter angiography in determining the most at-risk adult patients with congenital coronary artery defects. Although both techniques showed the anomalies, EBCT better depicted the proximal course of anomalous vessels, according to a small study from Turkey reported in the September issue of Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.

July saw just one more FDA clearance (24) than the previous month, but the number of sophisticated submissions took a sharp turn to the north. Devices in image management and CT promise interesting twists on established offerings, while others in nuclear medicine, ultrasound, and x-ray indicate expansions of some vendors’ product lines.

China’s increasing demand for modern healthcare innovations has given a welcome boost to the makers of medical imaging equipment. With no sign of a slowdown in growth, it is little wonder that Siemens Medical Solutions is ramping up its investment in this market.

Usually, the beginnings of great change are recognized only in hindsight. The exception to that rule may have happened Aug. 24. This was the day the developers of Cell Broadband Engine Architecture -- known informally as Cell -- flung wide the doors to the technical underpinnings of this new computing chip.

Researchers in Japan have tested a prototype 256-slice CT scanner in human patients, according to a study in the July issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. The technology enabled dynamic imaging of liver cancer in real-time.

Few radiologists would disagree that computer-assisted detection in the colon has a long way to go before it is ready for routine clinical implementation. But once the remaining technical challenges have been overcome, advocates for CT colonography screening will have a far stronger case, according to speakers at the Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery meeting in June.

The fusion of anatomic and functional data in PET/CT scans has received an enthusiastic welcome from both radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians. The combination of modalities has benefited oncology in particular. The use of new radioisotopes and ligands will broaden the scope of PET/CT in diagnosis, therapy, and clinical research, according to Prof. Peter Ell, director of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine at University College London.

A computer-based expert system can diagnose Alzheimer's disease with an accuracy comparable to experienced nuclear medicine physicians, according to a study presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June.

Several cardiology societies have collaborated to update standards for training and utilization of cardiovascular CT and MR imaging, addressing increasingly burdensome credentialing requirements. The document applies only to cardiac applications and does not address extracardiac findings associated with cardiac imaging.

Medicare plans to reduce technical payments for cross-sectional imaging of contiguous body parts and to apply the federal physician self-referral law to diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine for the first time.

One of the first studies of its kind has found integrated PET/CT to be a highly accurate method for diagnosing coronary artery disease. The combined imaging approach can help physicians decide whether to treat these patients with revascularization or proceed conservatively, according to a study in the June issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

An estimated 11.5 million echocardiography procedures were performed in 2004 at more than 3000 sites in the U.S., a 5% increase over 2002, according to a study conducted by IMV Medical Information Division.

The recently inaugurated American College of Radiology Imaging Network randomized trial comparing virtual colonoscopy with its traditional counterpart has cooled the debate about which technique is better. Participants at the annual American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in May seemed to reserve judgment pending results from the National CT Colonography Trial.

Two studies presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June attempted to explain the mechanisms behind two inversely related disorders: bulimia nervosa and obesity.

Changes in FDG uptake after subsequent cycles of neoadjuvant therapy can predict long-term patient survival. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich reported these findings at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June.

A suspect in custody for parole violation since shortly after the May 19 stabbing of Dr. Robert J. Lull has been linked through DNA to the crime, according to a report in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle.

Years of research and dozens of papers probing PET’s might in staging lymphoma have yielded sizable data showing that it does not supersede bone marrow biopsy. Clinicians who choose to replace biopsy with FDG-PET could potentially miss a high number of cases of infiltrative disease, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The recent creation of the Society for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography may give birth to a new era of cooperation among radiologists and cardiologists that might also sound the death knell for electron-beam CT.

Software is the unsung superhero of imaging, reconstructing the equivalent of a tall building in a single bound, racing much faster than a locomotive. Two new algorithms, one from an Israeli company called UltraSPECT, the other from GE Healthcare, are the latest such champions in nuclear medicine. Both promise major time savings or improved image quality.

Due in part to a robust second half, the CT market in the U.S. enjoyed extraordinary sales growth in 2004. Record sales were noted in the third and fourth quarters, according to industry estimates.

GE Healthcare has taken the first cautious step toward hybridizing a gamma camera and a multislice CT. The company unveiled at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June a quadslice CT mated to a dual-head Infinia gamma camera.

Toshiba launches MR techniqueMR angiography can be accomplished without the injection of contrast media, using a technique now available from Toshiba America Medical Systems. Contrast Improved Angiography (CIA) visualizes smaller vessels with greater contrast and better separation of arterial and venous blood flows, according to the company. CIA is built on a fresh blood imaging technology that Toshiba developed seven years ago. The new technique runs on Toshiba’s Excelart Vantage system.

A technique using a commercially available optical tracking system helps counter motion artifacts in neurological PET studies, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

A computer-based expert system can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease with an accuracy comparable to experienced nuclear medicine physicians, according to a study presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in June.

Nuclear medicine physicians have suspected since the advent of PET/CT that the hybrid technology would outperform either PET or CT alone for staging cancer. Those suspicions have been confirmed in a study of 260 patients at the University of Essen, Germany. It found that PET/CT is substantially more accurate for staging carcinoma than PET or CT alone and even PET and CT viewed side by side (PET+CT).

I read with interest your editorial in the May Diagnostic Imaging ("Funding cuts imperil nuclear medicine's innovative tradition," page 7). I cannot agree more. What we are seeing is not the death knell of nuclear medicine but the consequence of what has been done by physicians themselves. Forever, nuclear medicine has been treated as the poor stepchild of radiology. Until recently, about 80% of nuclear medicine was controlled by part-time radiologists who usually assigned a GED tech to do the nuclear medicine. The physician just countersigned whatever the tech diagnosed. This still left 20%, and since neither discipline controlled the patient flow, nuclear medicine doctors were able to fend for themselves.

Subtracted views of coronary vessels, reconstructed from CT data of the heart, may provide the means for screening patients with suspected coronary artery disease.