Medical Imaging

Physicians utilize medical imaging to see inside the body to diagnose and treat patients. This includes computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, angiography,  and the nuclear imaging modalities of PET and SPECT. 

Software Allows Virtual PET/MRI Fusion

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

It was a difficult, but not uncommon, neuroradiology case: A patient suffered seizures, but had, a year before, been cleared of the possibility of epilepsy by a radiologist looking at an MRI study of the patient’s brain. The persistence of the symptoms suggested that the initial diagnosis had been incorrect, so Meng Law, MD, professor of radiology

Maximizing MRI Throughput With Efficient Scheduling

As little as one extra MRI per day can generate more than an additional $200,000 in incremental revenue annually, but most imaging centers use crude scheduling systems that do not accurately present a center’s potential throughput. David A. Dierolf, director of performance improvement, Outpatient Imaging Affiliates (OIA), Nashville, Tennessee,

Opening Minds to Open MRI

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

How do you acquire the high–field-strength open MRI unit of your dreams in a tough economy? Unless you had already budgeted a cool million before the economy tanked, it may be difficult. David Nelson, director of outpatient imaging for BayCare Health System, Clearwater, Fla, overcame his lack of comfort with open systems last year and did just that

Premium Ultrasound Dressed Up and Ready for Its Close-up

New applications made possible by improved transducer technology and system software are having an impact on radiologists' practice patterns

Good Vibrations: Ultrasound Elastography

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

In February, France's state-operated agency for the funding of innovation awarded a research-and-development grant worth 8.5 million euros to a European company that wants to validate a new application clinically for the still-nascent modality of ultrasound elastography. In this instance, elastography would be used as a targeting mechanism for the

Example of a curved MPR image reconstruction of entire length of of a coronary artery on a cardiac CT scan to better show calcified and soft plaque burden inside the vessel. The thumbnail dots on the left side of the image are cross sectional views of the vessel. Siemens example on the expo floor.

The CCTA Playbook: A Guide to Coding, Reimbursement and Operations

A compendium of the business intelligence required to launch a CCTA service

How I Do It: Using 3D MRI to Identify High-risk Vascular Disease

Stroke and heart attack are major killers, not only in the Western world but, increasingly, throughout the developing industrial nations. The cost of these diseases is counted not only in lives lost, but in the health care costs incurred by those patients suffering the chronic manifestations of stroke and cardiac failure. While the acute and more

ACR Unveils a Modular MRI Accreditation Process

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

The ACR is set to launch a new modular MRI accreditation program designed to meet the specific practice patterns of individual facilities. Sometime this month, the current general MRI accreditation program will transition to the new program—which includes brain, spine, musculoskeletal, body, MR angiography, and cardiac modules—opening the door to

Around the web

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.