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. 

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Breast MR imaging a possible barrier to timely surgery following cancer diagnosis

Providers must be aware of age and how it impacts a patient’s care pathway after an MRI or other scan, experts wrote in JAMA Surgery. 

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‘Tremendous setback’: Imaging advocate blasts CMS decision on Alzheimer’s care

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance challenged Medicare's limited coverage for beta-amyloid PET, used to help identify those at risk.

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Insights into early MRI-termination risk factors offer helpful strategies for prevention

Even a small number of early terminations can be costly, in addition to creating negative experiences for patients, experts wrote in the European Journal of Radiology. 

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Pelvic CT after liver cancer: Costs versus benefits

Should patients treated for hepatocellular carcinoma undergo regular follow-up pelvic CTs? Rising survival rates may change the calculus.

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Proposed bills in several states would bolster coverage for breast imaging services

The Susan G. Komen organization has lobbied for the proposals and recently touted them in a series of separate announcements. 

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MRI catches CT in head-to-head lung imaging

When it comes to assessing patients with suspected pulmonary embolism, contrast-enhanced CT pulmonary angiography has no diagnostic edge over a certain free-breathing, unenhanced MRI perfusion protocol.

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Fatal accident calls MRI safety standards into question—are more regulations needed?

There are a number of well-intended recommendations for preventing MRI injuries, but many of them stop short of implementing safety requirements.

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Mammography guideline changes have produced a ‘harmful’ spillover effect

Mammography screening trends had remained flat, but they fell across all age groups after the USPSTF issued new guidelines in 2009.

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.