WSJ Highlights Progress and Challenges in Dose Reduction

The Wall Street Journal put a spotlight on radiologists’ and manufacturers’ efforts to minimize radiation from CT scanning.In an article by staff reporter Kate Linebaugh, it detailed how members of the diagnostic imaging community — including radiologists, researchers and manufacturers — are seeking to lower radiation exposure through better software programs, improved CT scanners, and education for referring physicians and patients. However, it also highlighted the challenges, including referring physicians ordering two scans (with contrast and without contrast) when only one is needed, patients not understanding the risk CT scanning poses, older CT systems still in use, and a payment system that rewards duplicate scanning in some cases. "Patients should be more demanding that they are getting the lowest dose possible," Gene Saragnese, who runs imaging systems for Philips Healthcare told the WSJ. "There are still machines out there that are 10 years old."In a second article in the same issue, the WSJ also looked at cloud storage of diagnostic images and touched on its role in image sharing and reducing duplicative imaging.