The societies have updated and expanded their guidelines for appropriate cardiac nuclear imaging, but how are they being implemented into daily clinical practice?
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The FDA is notifying healthcare professionals, and in particular, the medical imaging community, about the planned return of CardioGen-82 to the U.S. market following the voluntary recall by the manufacturer, Bracco Diagnostics, on July 25, 2011. The agency has approved revised labeling for CardioGen-82 to include a boxed warning and enhanced testing information to help minimize the risk for exposure to unintended levels of strontium radiation.
With the growth of cardiac imaging, there has been heightened concern about the resulting increased exposure to ionizing radiation. Andrew J. Einstein, MD, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, outlined the currently available research on radiation exposure in cardiac imaging in the Feb. 7 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and concluded that while strong data specifically addressing the risks of cancer from cardiac imaging don’t exist, increased risks can be projected from studies involving similar levels of radiation exposure.
Although post-imaging use of cardiac catheterization and medical therapy increased in proportion to the degree of abnormality findings, noninvasive testing had only a modest impact on clinical management of patients referred for clinical testing, according to the SPARC trial published in the Jan. 31 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
GE Healthcare has paid the U.S. $30 million, plus interest, to settle allegations that a company it acquired in 2004, Amersham Health, had violated the False Claims Act by causing Medicare to overpay for Myoview, a radiopharmaceutical used in certain cardiac diagnostic imaging procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Covidien is planning to spin off its pharmaceuticals business into a standalone public company. The unit supplies generators used to produce technetium-99m, a medical isotope, and offers an integrated system of diagnostic contrast media in prefilled syringes and injectors.
DENVER—As the future model of healthcare reform is not yet set in stone, those working in nuclear cardiology must first get a grip on how to modify the current system to charge less per service rather than compromising care with less volume, William A. Van Decker, MD, professor of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, said during a presentation Sept. 9 at this year’s American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) scientific sessions.
DENVER—As important players within the medical community work to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from medical imaging, integrating protocols and strategies, such as shielding, can help reduce dose, James A. Case, PhD, of Cardiovascular Imaging Technologies in Kansas City, said during a presentation Sept. 9 at the 16th annual American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) meeting.
Siemens Healthcare sponsored a series of symposia and showcased its most recent CT scanner and image interpretation software at this year’s meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular CT (SCCT) in Denver, July 14-17.
High-pitch, dual-source CT scanners may enable physicians to sustain diagnostic accuracy while allowing up to seven-fold reductions in pediatric radiation dose, according to a study presented this weekend at the Society of Cardiovascular CT (SCCT) in Denver.
Health IT company TeraRecon showed iNtuition advanced visualization and cloud products at this year’s scientific meeting of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) in Denver, July 14-17.
Data from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Medicine Laboratories suggest that while non-compliance with reporting standards is found in the majority of U.S. nuclear cardiology laboratories, facilities that participate in the accreditation process demonstrate an increase in compliance over time. The retrospective study was published online June 19 in the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.
GE Healthcare and Rapidscan Pharma Solutions have introduced regadenoson, marketed as Rapiscan, to facilitate myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) to diagnose coronary artery disease for patients unable to exercise.
Specialty pharmaceutical company Acusphere has reached an agreement with the FDA on a Special Protocol Assessment clinical trial to assess the ability of the company’s Imagify drug to detect coronary artery disease (CAD) on stress ultrasound.
Biotech company ImaginAb has locked a research deal with GE Healthcare to develop PET diagnostic imaging agents for cardiovascular disease, the companies said on June 5.
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