Diagnostic Imaging North America - January 2009

COVER STORY
By: Clare Tempany, M.D., Jalil Afnan, M.D., and Nathan McDannold, PH.D.

• Focused ultrasound ablation offer prostate cancer option

DEPARTMENTS

Agenda

By: John C. Hayes

• When the RSNA throws the book at us, we read it-all

Overread

• Physicians appreciate value of decision-support system
• California blames operator error for CT incident
• 'Image Gently' program expands beyond pediatrics
• Dual-isotope SPECT/CT finds infections in diabetic feet
• Case of the Month
• SPECT trial helps solve mystery of fibromyalgia

Newsclips

• Iso-osmolar agent shows higher renal failure rate
• Some breast cancers may regress spontaneously
• CMS hesitates to approve PET for cancer despite data
• Brain imaging finds why people overbid at auctions
• Chest CT assists follow-up of head and neck cancer
• Ultrasound predicts stroke from carotid morphology

Diagnostic Imaging supplement
In Review: News from the RSNA Meeting

• Radiation dose reduction themes color RSNA 2008
• Depth increases in lineup of breast imaging options
• Economic woes affect attendance
• Expertise with MSCT-CA takes time
• Illegal patient info sneaks into PowerPoint files
• Moolah gets reports flying out the door
• Multifaceted effort propels CT colonography forward
• CTC can diagnose more than cancer
• Occult infarction presages major event
• Database mining unearths secrets about imaging use
• Rads lose procedure volume to cardiologists, surgeons
• Multislice CT closes in on emergency triage role
• South Carolina radiologist stands against 'Rad Scare'

X-Ray Vision

• True value comes to digital imaging via mining of medical databases

Magnetic Resonance

• fMRI for lie detection finds customers but lacks science

Tech Watch

• MR, CT vendors hit range of price-performance points

Ultrasound

• Real-time elasticity findings improve breast specificity

Intervention

• Targeted therapies gain ground on hard-to-treat liver tumors

Practice Issues

• Assistants take on additional tasks, inch toward payment

Perturbations

• 'Yes we can' change our minds about reform