Facility Management

Breast imaging facilities may come under increased regulatory scrutiny, as new recommendations prepared for Congress call for additional data tracking and mandatory accreditation for breast ultrasound and MRI. The report also includes suggestions to offset financial burdens incurred by centers adopting these new measures.

The 2005 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance meeting reflected the opportunities and challenges unique to this diagnostic imaging discipline. Cardiac MR's growing professional acceptance helped spur a third consecutive attendance record this year, and the number of scientific papers and posters submitted for presentation rose as well.

Answers to an examination request are never read by referring physicians; they have to be verbally transmitted by the radiologist, preferably while that radiologist is in the middle of another complex case.

As more women in the U.S. turn to mammography to detect breast cancer, the availability of mammographers and technologists certified for breast imaging is decreasing, according to a survey published in the May issue of Radiology.

Over the years, we've grown comfortable and familiar with the digital revolution in radiology. Actually, in many quarters it is no longer a revolution but an accomplished fact.

Heart rate and CT density at the aortic root significantly affect image quality in coronary CT angiography, according to a study presented at the European Congress of Radiology.

Orbis has a new look: a graphical user interface called NICE (new interface for cool ergonomics). NICE integrates international standards, thereby laying the groundwork for expansion of the Orbis installed base beyond its stronghold in western Europe. Orbis is a suite of hospital IT applications developed by Agfa’s latest corporate acquisition GWI that operates at more than 2000 medical sites in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France. The standardized interface allows individual adaptation, which optimizes the ergonomics of Orbis, according to the company. GWI demonstrated the new interface at the Information Technology for Healthcare trade show in Frankfurt in April.

Over the years, we've grown comfortable and familiar with the digital revolution in radiology. Actually, in many quarters it is no longer a revolution but an accomplished fact.

Times are tough for breast centers. Reimbursement rates are flat, while costs for labor and supplies are climbing. In any other business, managers would be tempted to cut corners to make ends meet. But this is breast care.

The 2005 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance meeting reflected the opportunities and challenges unique to this diagnostic imaging discipline. Cardiac MR's growing professional acceptance helped spur a third consecutive attendance record this year, and the number of scientific papers and posters submitted for presentation rose as well.

Overall penetration of the electronic medical record is relatively low in the U.S. And the gap in its adoption between large, well-financed organizations and smaller, cash-strapped physician practices is even larger, according to presenters at the American Medical Informatics Association meeting in Boston.

I entered private practice on a full-time basis in 1984, having quit my position in a state-run general hospital following a disagreement over lack of funding for continuing medical education. The imaging center that I joined had just been granted permission to buy a CT scanner. This would not be news today. But 20 years ago, establishment of a private CT center in Sarcelles, a suburban town 15 km north of Paris, was news indeed. CT scanners were scarce in France, and procedures required users to attain a certificate of need, which was a very cumbersome process.

Overall penetration of the electronic medical record is relatively low in the U.S. And the gap in its adoption between large, well-financed organizations and smaller, cash-strapped physician practices is even larger, according to presenters at the American Medical Informatics Association meeting in Boston.

Dr. Harry Genant, emeritus professor of radiology at the University of California, San Francisco and a pioneer in the development of bone density measurement, spoke with Diagnostic Imaging about the increasing availability of bone densitometry tests and the need to standardize vertebral fracture measurement to improve the accuracy of osteoporosis diagnosis as well as patient compliance with therapy.

Although radiologists recognize ultrasound's value for the evaluation and diagnosis of musculoskeletal conditions, most prefer to use MR imaging in their daily practice, according to a recent survey.

Specialists such as rheumatologists, physiatrists, sports medicine physicians, and orthopedic surgeons increasingly use ultrasound in their clinical practices. But most radiologists find reassurance in their firm grip on musculoskeletal MR imaging. A number of them fear, however, that in forfeiting musculoskeletal ultrasound they risk losing musculoskeletal imaging altogether.

Hysterectomy and myomectomy still dominate the uterine fibroid treatment options. But specialists, including gynecologists, are gradually gravitating toward minimally invasive alternatives. The pace for change may quicken when definitive long-term outcomes on uterine artery embolization are published later this year.

The federal government has initiated a temporary reimbursement scheme for PET imaging that proponents hope will translate into permanent coverage for many oncologic indications currently not funded through Medicare.

We've known for some time that abdominal aortic aneurysm screening has great potential to save lives among our growing middle-aged and elderly populations. The Society for Interventional Radiology, which added ultrasound AAA screening to its Legs For Life program in 2000, reported last year that it has screened nearly 46,000 individuals and that the results prompted 11% of them to have a medical procedure or see their doctor. Ultrasound has a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 100% in detecting AAA.

Years ago, tomosynthesis was cited as one reason radiology needed digital mammography. A digital detector could be arced around the breast to capture multiple views from different angles, stripping away tissue that obscures cancers. But despite the commercial introduction of digital mammography five years ago, the use of tomosynthesis remains limited to a few isolated medical centers.

Most musculoskeletal radiologists prefer to use MRI in their daily practice even though they recognize the value of ultrasound to evaluate and diagnose many MSK conditions, according to results of a survey presented at the 2004 RSNA meeting.

There's no doubt that computer-aided detection increases the ability to pick up breast cancers. But questions remain about which users benefit most from CAD, as cancer detection rates vary widely with breast imaging experience. Even proponents note that improvements in the technology are needed to decrease false positives while increasing accuracy in detecting cancerous masses.

Buoyed by a new CPT code for vertebral fracture assessment, digital radiography is making fresh inroads into women’s health imaging.

Requirements for a Medicare-mandated PET tumor registry that will track how FDG-PET imaging influences patient management were announced Sunday at the opening session of the Academy of Molecular Imaging annual meeting in Orlando.

Europe has traditionally lagged behind the U.S. in its interest in open MR technology. Now the launch into the European market of two MR systems, each claiming performance comparable to 1.5T but friendlier to patients, may at last buck that trend.

When Dr. Peter Kullnig offered patients at his imaging center in Graz, Austria access to their images, his intent was to protect their privacy. With private logins to the center’s Web-based PACS, patients controlled access to their records. They could open those records to their own physicians and doctors to whom they were referred.

"John, Roberta has been ordering a lot of cone-down and magnification views on patients."

Provided cost-effectiveness issues can be resolved, whole-body imaging appears destined to enter everyday clinical practice as a comprehensive initial scanning method in oncology and other areas, according to an ECR presentation Friday.

Lack of reimbursement kept PET imaging on a slow track for most of the 1990s. The PET community's efforts to churn out data to persuade the government of the modality's effectiveness began to pay off early in the new century.