CT

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.

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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