Canon reveals ultrasound tips for COVID-19, mobile access to O-RADs, plus more vendor news
Canon Medical Systems released new guidance on Tuesday, aimed at helping providers use ultrasound to image COVID-19 patients.
The resource covers both lung and heart US and comes after a report out of the World Health Organization over the summer, highlighting the modality’s usefulness in managing coronavirus patients.
Tustin, California-based Canon USA said the guides include clinical examples, specific protocols and recommended ultrasound settings.
O-RADS application
The American College of Radiology on Tuesday announced a new smartphone app for mobile use of the Ovarian-Adnexal Reporting and Data System.
The interactive tool lends radiologists “easy access” to standard descriptions for managing ovarian/adnexal pathology, ACR said in a news email. It’s available for download in both the Apple and Google Play stores
“The principal goals of O-RADS are to improve the quality and communication between interpreting and referring physicians, to limit variability in reporting language and ultimately to guide patient management based on actionable information in the imaging report,” ACR said.
Vendor Appreciation Week
The Radiology Business Management Association announced this week that it is declaring Nov. 30 through Dec. 5 as “Vendor Appreciation Week.”
The Fairfax, Virginia-based trade group said its goal is to recognize “solution providers who have been critical to the industry’s road to recovery.”
Officials said they plan to post a schedule of activities for the event in the coming weeks and will kick things off with a virtual breakfast on Nov. 30.
“This is a great opportunity for a focused review of bleeding-edge technologies and innovations that will help optimize your practice operations and propel you to the next level,” RBMA said in an announcement shared Tuesday.
Rapid fire
A few more radiology vendor news items in rapid fashion:
- Nuance and hospital giant Providence recently announced a “strategic collaboration” focused around AI-powered solutions to help with clinical documentation, including in radiology.
- Lantheus Holdings recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for its AI-enabled automated bone scan index for use on GE Healthcare’s Xeleris Platform.
- Life Image network this week rolled out a new interoperability solution to help smaller providers exchange digital images.
- Ikonopedia has released a new enhanced breast MRI reporting module.
- Artificial intelligence vendor Zebra Medical on Monday announced a partnership with the largest HMO in Israel aimed at deploying imaging AI at a large scale.
- DarwinAI and Red Hat have teamed up to bring COVID-Net radiography screening to hospitals, utilizing underlying technology from Boston Children’s Hospital.
- In a busy period for Canon, the company also announced results from its AiCE Challenge, and unveiled a new partnership with Avicenna.AI around stroke detection.
- And finally, NorthShore University HealthSystem has partnered with Densitas to roll out the company’s AI platform for precision breast cancer screening.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.