Diagnostic Imaging North America

August 2005

COVER STORY

Vendors challenge limits of MR speed and resolution

By: James Brice

DEPARTMENTS

X-RAY VISION

James Brice

ISMRM meeting format addresses society's many-faceted persona

AGENDA

Jane Lowers

News bureaus around the country tap into radiology's hot spots

Overread

• Report urging changes to breast standards draws fire
• Radiologists flex 'x-ray vision'
• PET probes brain and heart to fathom bulimia, obesity
• To The Point
• Joint and back pain lead to inappropriate referrals
• Prepless CT colonography hides lesions, hinders read
• Carotid artery stenting takes off despite limits
• High-end technology aids pediatric low-dose strategy

Newsclips

• Ultrasound BI-RADS might need some fine-tuning
• Demand for radiologists holds steady, pay grows
• FDG-PET predicts chemo response in ovarian cancer
• Multislice CT's limit looks more like 64 than the sky
• Interventional oncology turns profit for rad groups

MRI Special Section

• MR finds widespread clinical use in MS diagnosis, management
• Cardiac service doubles patient capacity in just under two years

Workflow

• Improved layout optimizes space for digital radiography

Imaging Practice

• Erasing scanned body parts raises questions

Practice Management

• Administrators wrestle with new challenges and skill sets

Radiation Safety

• Dose metrics lag behind advances in CT scanners
• History of radiation dose metrics spins heads
• Rads know how to keep dose low

Chest Imaging

• CT angiography in pulmonary embolism raises radiation dose

Tech Watch

• iPAT Squared offers big-time boost for 3T MR imaging

Backscatter

• You're part of the team or part of the problem

SCAR Conference Reporter

• New software crystallizes network security big picture
• Brightness, not density, wins monitor accolades
• Revised reading rooms adopt new technology
• Societies tackle digital quality and consistency
• Breast imagers protest digital discrepancies
• DICOM enhances CT, MR device interoperability
• SCAR takes steps to create new certification program

Mailbox

• Use multislice CT for coronary imaging only when EBCT is not available
• SPECT versus PET article invites bike-versus-car analogy
• Clinicians and vendors build bridges in support of digital mammography