Lawmakers in the commonwealth of Virginia are debating the implications of breast density notification legislation.
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center has awarded Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute a $10 million grant to support the expansion of its cancer imaging research program.
The malignancy rate for MR-detected breast masses less than or equal to 5 mm has been shown to be greater than 20 percent, indicating that these small masses should be viewed with a high degree of suspicion when seen in staging breast MRI exams, according to a study published in the January issue of Academic Radiology.
Capital Health, a hospital network based in New Jersey, has inked a contract with GE Healthcare to install GE's Discovery NM 750b at Capital Health Medical Center - Hopewell in Pennington, N.J.
Inflammation, as assessed by 18F-FDG-PET uptake and histology, is increased in plaques containing high-risk morphological (HRM) features and rises with increasing number of HRM, according to a study in the January issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. Study authors suggested that data support the concept that inflammation accumulates relative to the burden of morphological abnormalities.
A new magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) technique may offer a method to detect and track a protein associated with a genetic mutation in brain tumor cancer cells. The method could inform diagnosis of glioma and provide prognostic information, according to a study published online Jan. 26 in Nature Medicine.
Milwaukee-based Herzing University has acquired the Medical Technology Management Institute, which provides continuing education for radiologic technologists and diagnostic medical physicists.
Women with two types of high-risk lesions (papilloma and radial scar) with normal MRI results can avoid surgical excision and instead undergo clinical and imaging follow-up, according to a prospective study published in the February issue of American Journal of Roentgenology.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if in five or 10 years this procedure replaced awake [deep brain simulation surgery],” Jason M. Schwalb, MD, director of movement disorder and behavioral neurosurgery at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, said in an interview. However, Schwalb confirmed that the data to support intraoperative MRI as a complete replacement for the conventional awake technique are not yet available.
Bioscan, a developer of preclinical imaging systems, has established a subsidiary in Dijon, France, Bioscan Molecular Imaging France.
The team at Johns Hopkins In-Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center in Baltimore is using novel imaging tools to discover new early detection methods for cancers existing in cells, and study its prevention and elimination before spreading to other organs and tissues.
The services and allowed charges by cardiologists for treating Medicare patients increased dramatically between 1999 and 2008, according to an analysis published online Jan. 10 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Much of the growth was linked to noninvasive imaging, with resting echocardiograms and nuclear stress testing fueling the lion’s share of growth.
In the wake of the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), there were concerns that advanced imaging procedures would shift from private offices to hospital outpatient departments and that access would be restricted. According to a study in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, while there hasn’t been a large shift away from offices toward hospitals, the DRA did affect imaging volume and seems to have resulted in some loss of access to nuclear medicine.
Researchers from Finland have developed a new tool for the objective diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease which could allow for earlier diagnosis.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has informed the American College of Radiology that “operational limitations” will prevent them from applying the imaging professional component Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR) to group practices beginning Jan. 1, 2012. Therefore, CMS will not apply the professional component MPPR for imaging services performed by separate physicians in the same group practice for 2012.
The U.S. House of Representative passed the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act (H.R. 3630) Dec. 13. Among other things, H.R. 3630 prevents an across the board 27 percent cut to Medicare physician reimbursement statutorily required by the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The bill provides physicians with a 1 percent increase in Medicare payments for 2012 and 2013.
Awards |
Wednesday, December 14
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has named Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City as a Center for Quantitative Imaging Excellence for its research in cancer screening, treatment and follow-up care, specifically with modalities such as mammography, PET, CT and MRI.
Women diagnosed with breast cancer are increasingly burdened by multiple imaging appointments prior to surgery, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, who presented the findings Dec. 9 at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Royal Philips Electronics has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its whole-body PET/MR imaging system, the Ingenuity TF PET/MR. The system was on display at the 97th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.
There may soon be an alternative to FDG-PET in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as the non-invasive arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI method has been shown to provide comparable information, according to a study appearing in Neurology.
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