Conference News | Tuesday, February 21
LAS VEGAS—Cleveland Clinic is building an enterprise imaging repository that allows physicians to visualize everything that happens to the patient, including radiology images, tissue pathology, digital photos and more, according to Louis M. Lannum, director of enterprise imaging at Cleveland Clinic, who detailed the organization’s progress toward an enterprise repository during a Feb. 21 session at the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
Conference News | Tuesday, February 21
LAS VEGAS—Image-enabled personal health records (PHRs), the cornerstone of an IHE-based image sharing network, have leveraged the cross-enterprise document sharing (XDS) profile to engage consumers, David S. Mendelson, MD, chief of clinical informatics at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, said during a Feb. 22 session at the 2012 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference. The PHR model mimics (and could augment) the CD-based image exchange model.
Contracts & Installations | Tuesday, February 21
The Lawson Health Research Institute in London, Ontario, will install Siemen’s Biograph mMR, a synchronous MR/PET system.
New Products | Tuesday, February 21
Bayer MaterialScience is introducing a specialty grade of resin designed for use in diagnostic imaging equipment, such as CT, MRI and PET scanners, workstations and kiosks.
Clinical Studies | Friday, February 17
Ultrahigh-field strength, T1-weighted magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition and multiple gradient echoes is highly sensitive for detecting multiple sclerosis (MS) plaques within the white and gray brain parenchyma, according to a study published online Feb. 20 in Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Industry News | Friday, February 17
The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) has released the results of its first survey measuring the demographics and teaching practices of faculty members in radiologic science programs. The “State of Radiologic Sciences Education” survey was developed to establish a baseline for the ASRT to monitor trends in the educational environment over the next decade.
Government News | Thursday, February 16
The Canadian Isotope Project, led by the Canadian Light Source and the National Research Council of Canada, and medical researchers in Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto, is set to scale up its work to production levels for making medical isotopes with x-rays from a particle accelerator instead of a nuclear reactor, with the delivery of a new particle accelerator built by Ontario-based Mevex.
Clinical Studies | Wednesday, February 15
Molecular breast imaging techniques delivered improved management compared with ultrasound and helped detect malignant or high-risk lesions when used as an adjunct to mammography in women with negative or indeterminate results, according to a study published in the January issue of
American Journal of Roentgenology.
Conference News | Wednesday, February 15
During the SNM [Society of Nuclear Medicine] House of Delegates meeting held Jan. 26-29 in Orlando, Fla., at the Mid-Winter meeting, the body approved a proposed amendment to the SNM bylaws that would change the name of the association to the “Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.”
Regulatory News | Wednesday, February 15
The FDA has cleared features associated with Siemens Healthcare's Biograph mCT PET/CT scanner, which can measure metabolic processes and data quantification, including the assessment of neurological disease, cancerous tissue and cardiac blood flow.
Association News | Tuesday, February 14
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) has requested that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reconsider its national non-coverage decision for PET tracers and remove the exclusionary language that denies coverage for new PET imaging agents.
Executive Announcements | Monday, February 13
Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) has appointed Gail Rodriguez, PhD, executive director and reorganized senior staff.
Clinical Studies | Monday, February 13
Among postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, increasing age was associated with a higher risk of death from breast cancer regardless of competing mortality and independent of tumor and treatment characteristics, according to a study in the Feb. 8 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
Industry News | Thursday, February 09
Cardiologists in the U.S. expect to use fewer imaging modalities per patient case in the future, according to a report released by market research firm IMV Medical Information Division.
Government News | Wednesday, February 08
It was only Feb. 3 that the IRS released guidance for implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s 2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers and importers of medical devices—due to kick in next January—but the action has already reignited a firestorm of protest. This will surprise no one who has followed industry’s anti-tax drumbeat, which began upon the release of a
Sept. 2011 economic analysis forecasting the loss of 43,000 American jobs at the hands of the tax.
Government News | Wednesday, February 08
The Obama Administration announced new efforts to fight Alzheimer’s disease on Feb. 7, including immediately making an additional $50 million available for Alzheimer’s research. In addition, the administration said that its FY 2013 budget will boost funding for Alzheimer’s research by $80 million.
Mergers & Acquisitions | Tuesday, February 07
Positron, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Manhattan Isotope Technology (MIT), has executed a memorandum of understanding with the Institute of Nuclear Research (INR) of Troitsk, Russia. MIT and INR will collaborate on strontium-82 production beginning with a pharmaceutical ingredient validation exercise in 2012.
Industry News | Monday, February 06
Lawmakers in the commonwealth of Virginia are debating the implications of breast density notification legislation.
Industry News | Monday, February 06
Revised criteria for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) could compromise the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia, according to an analysis published online Feb. 6 in Archives of Neurology.
Awards | Friday, February 03
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.
Clinical Studies | Friday, February 03
The radiopharmaceutical, I-131-MIP-1466, which is designed to deliver a therapeutic dose of radiation to metastatic prostate cancer, will enter a clinical trial to evaluate its efficacy and benefits for patients.
Government News | Wednesday, February 01
The Utah State Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Jan. 31 approved legislation encouraging facilities to notify women of their breast density status. The legislation will be sent to the state Senate for consideration.
Financial News | Monday, January 30
Philips Healthcare has reported a single-digit increase in sales for the fourth quarter of 2011 over the comparable 2010 fourth quarter, and the 2011 fiscal year over 2010.
Clinical Studies | Monday, January 30
With the exception of liver metastases, whole-body imaging of estrogen receptor (ER) expression with 18F-FES, an ER-specific PET tracer, can be a valuable additional diagnostic tool when standard work-up is inconclusive, particularly in breast cancer patients, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
Clinical Studies | Monday, January 30
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.
Regulatory News | Monday, January 30
The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) has released its ombudsman report for 2011, the first year the office’s electronic tracking system has been used to facilitate record-keeping and trending.
Conference News | Monday, January 30
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.
Partnerships & Alliances | Monday, January 30
Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and AstraZeneca have formed a three-year collaborative research agreement that will apply molecular imaging technologies to generate new diagnostic imaging tools.
Industry News | Sunday, January 29
The Texas Department of State Health Services-Radiation Control Program has granted Positron's wholly owned subsidiary, Manhattan Isotope Technology, approval of its radioactive materials license amendment.
Clinical Studies | Sunday, January 29
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.
Clinical Studies | Friday, January 27
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.
Industry News | Friday, January 27
Shine Medical Technologies, a developer of medical isotopes and cancer treatment elements, intends to build a new manufacturing plant in Janesville, Wis. Plant completion is planned for 2015, with more than 100 permanent employees and potential for further employment growth.
Industry News | Thursday, January 26
The diagnostic imaging market will be marked by an expansion of hybrid modality technology, the growth of imaging in emerging markets and negative growth due to reimbursement cuts in the U.S., according to a report by GBI Research, a business information company, distributed by Industry Review.
Industry News | Thursday, January 26
The Florida State Senate has refused to consider HB 1329, which would have required imaging centers, along with other healthcare providers, to publish and post a schedule of charges for services provided to patients paying out of pocket, effective Jan. 25.
Contracts & Installations | Thursday, January 26
Naviscan PET scanners performing positron emission mammography (PEM) have been installed in two European centers: Radiologie und Nuklearmedizin in Ludwigshafen, Germany, and Medica in Istanbul, Turkey.
