Week in Review | June 2, 2018

The American Cancer Society (ACS) announced Wednesday, March 30, that it has updated its guideline for colorectal cancer screening, changing the age people at average risk should begin screening from 50 to 45.

Using a contrast reaction management checklist reduces the number of mistakes radiologists make during simulated severe contrast reactions, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Cultivating physician character in an increasingly tech-centered environment can be difficult for radiologists who are often isolated in their work, but in a medical landscape where quality patient care is key, imagers may need to venture outside of their comfort zone, a trio of Emory University radiologists wrote in Academic Radiology this May.

On Tuesday, May 29, President Donald Trump indicated the U.S. would proceed with its planned tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports.

It might not be the majority of hospitals’ standard routine, but including a patient’s head during routine body imaging with FDG PET/MRI could detect far more brain abnormalities than traditional practice, according to research published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

When it comes to transgender patients, radiologists can be confused due to unfamiliarity with specific preferences or needs, a pair of researchers with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada said this month in Radiography. Taking those patients’ unique considerations to heart and educating radiology staff about transgender realities can make a big difference in how the population receives medical care.

Implementing a telephone triage service could cut interruptions to radiology reporting rooms by more than 40 percent while staying budget-friendly, according to recent research out of the United Kingdom.

Use of a concurrent-read computer-aided detection (CAD) system when interpreting automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) examinations helps improve efficiency without negatively affecting accuracy, according to a new study published by the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Integrating commercially available clinical decision support (CDS) software into an electronic health record (EHR) helps improve the appropriateness of imaging studies ordered by emergency and inpatient healthcare providers, according to a new study published by the Journal of the American College of Radiology. The shift was especially significant for trainees.

Machine learning techniques perform well when tasked with predicting malignancy in breast lesions identified during breast cone-beam CT (CBCT) exams, according to a new study from German researchers published by the American Journal of Roentgenology. One technique, back propagation neural networks (BPN), outperformed two radiologists.

Though designed to reduce radiation exposure during CT perfusion, orbit shields can cause more harm than good to neuroradiology patients, Swiss researchers reported this week. The shields, meant to be preventive, could be rendering whole brain scans diagnostically useless.