CT

Radiologists interpreting scans of patients with suspected pulmonary embolism should check for signs of right heart dysfunction. This action could save a patient’s life, according to a study presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in May.

Molecular imaging has been wending its way slowly into the vernacular of nuclear medicine. Now it appears this term may someday supplant nuclear medicine altogether, at least if the recent action by Siemens Medical Solutions is any guide.

Vendors managed to clear just 21 radiological devices through the FDA in May, one fewer than April. Most of the cleared devices were relatively simple. Several addressed dental imaging or low-level image management.

One of the pioneers of digital mammography, Fischer Imaging, is exiting the market. The company has signed a definitive agreement to sell Hologic the intellectual property and customer lists of its mammography business and products. The cash purchase price of $32 million includes the rights to Fisher’s SenoScan digital mammography and MammoTest stereotactic breast biopsy systems.

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, speakers said Friday.

The ability to simultaneously display 3D anatomic and molecular information to evaluate lung cancer earned Dr. Andrew Quon recognition for the Society of Nuclear Medicine’s Image of the Year.

PET has linked the behavioral treatment of bulimia nervosa with biochemical activity in areas of the brain associated with addiction and substance abuse, according to a study presented Sunday at the 2005 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting in Toronto.

Despite impressive strides, multidetector CT scanner technology could still use some tweaking to maximize its utility, according to a speaker at the seventh annual Symposium on Multidetector-Row CT in San Francisco.

Polar maps of the coronary arteries that provide information regarding morphology and patency in a single image could potentially speed up diagnosis. But the technology still has some bugs in it, according to German researchers.

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).

Integrating a profusion of digital healthcare information systems is central to providing efficient, high-quality healthcare, and this need spans national boundaries. To address the increasingly global task, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise initiative expanded to six new countries last year.

Three-D CT angiography images can help plan access and avoid complications when performing minimally invasive cardiac coronary artery bypass grafting, according to two studies presented at the ECR.

A multipronged effort is under way to standardize and thereby improve the quality of digital images. The first results of this effort could be in hand very soon.

Philips releases low-cost ultrasound systemUltrasound users have a new mobile ultrasound system to consider. The HD3 is the smallest, most mobile, and easiest-to-use ultrasound system to join its portfolio, according to Philips Medical Systems. The high-definition system, designed for small office practices, hospitals, and clinics, provides gray-scale and color Doppler imaging with one-button image optimization, cineloop review, and tissue harmonic imaging. It features an adjustable flat-panel monitor and analysis packages with measurements for a variety of exams.

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When Sir Godfrey Hounsfield introduced CT for brain imaging in 1973, my colleagues and I at the University of Pennsylvania were using a dedicated SPECT instrument, designed and assembled at our institution, to examine blood-brain barrier abnormalities in a variety of neurological disorders.

The ability to acquire functional and anatomic information in a single scheduled exam offers many clinical and workflow benefits. But making the most of a hybrid imaging system involves far more than simply pressing the "on" switch. With the advent of multislice SPECT/CT, radiologists and nuclear medicine physicians are taking a long, hard look at how these systems will fit into clinical practice.

A new generation of hybrid scanners has entered the clinical mainstream. Featuring high-performance PET detectors and 16-slice CTs, these systems have followed their predecessors' path into oncology, but they have also veered into new realms.

The marriage between PET and CT worked so well it made CT almost a standard component of any PET purchase. As installations of SPECT/CT begin, observers are waiting to see how this latest hybrid compares.

Nuclear medicine physicians would be the first to admit that the resolution of their color maps could be better. Despite the ability of radioisotope tracers to home in on likely areas of malignancy, poor spatial resolution can hinder precise localization of pathology.

One of the things a good newsmagazine should do is provide contrasting opinions on important issues. It is something we try to achieve with nearly every article we carry.

Combined SPECT/CT scanners are receiving a warm welcome in the nuclear cardiology community. Acquisition of CT data immediately before or after a myocardial perfusion SPECT exam is proving to be an effective means of minimizing attenuation artifacts. Multislice SPECT/CT units could also pave the way to comprehensive assessments of cardiac function.

Imaging of infection provides a classic example of nuclear medicine's strengths and weaknesses. Radiopharmaceutical tracers can locate infection sites with great accuracy. As with oncology imaging, however, the absence of anatomic landmarks makes it difficult to determine the location to which the hot spot on a color map corresponds. A better road map, capable of locating the position of signal more precisely, would make it easier to diagnose the cause of infection and plan the most appropriate treatment.

A new cardiovascular system designed to assist in the treatment of chronic heart and vascular conditions is headed for the global market. Its developer, GE Healthcare, expects Innova 2100IQ to improve patient outcomes by enabling clinicians in the cath lab to better visualize precise placement of interventional devices. The system, unveiled May 24 at the annual Paris Course on Revascularization, images fine vessels and anatomy in the heart. The 2100IQ is the latest addition to the Innova family. More than 1200 of this family have been installed worldwide.

The nuclear medicine market is in a state of flux. Sales were unremarkable last year -- flat for gamma cameras, slightly up for PET/CT scanners -- but new technological advances and product introductions are generating interest as well as new users.

Philips Medical Solutions will begin shipping a multislice CT simulator next month, carrying on a tradition in CT oncology begun by Picker International and carried on by Marconi Medical Systems, which Philips acquired 2001. Philips has been testing its latest 16-slice configuration at four beta sites.

The imaging community continued to drift in April on a flat sea of FDA clearances, as just 22 devices, one more than in March, managed to pass the agency’s review.

Varian, Inc. has developed an MR technologies platform that can be assembled into configurations supporting systems designed to research human, animal, and material applications. These different configurations, which range from MR scanners to nuclear MR spectrometers (NMR), operate at field strengths from 4.7T to 14.1T.

Given the high quality of FDG-PET imaging, the likelihood that other useful PET tracers will be approved for clinical applications, and the enthusiasm with which the larger radiology community has embraced PET/CT, the future of single-photon scintigraphy in diagnostic imaging is a relevant discussion for nuclear medicine and radiology departments. Decisions have to be made about the allocation of funds, space, and physician training.

Dr. Robert J. Lull, chief of nuclear medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and head of nuclear medicine at San Francisco General Hospital, was stabbed to death May 19.