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. 

How COVID-19 made some radiologists newly nimble with workload management

During one surge, the hospital’s CT volumes spiked to 55% higher than pre-pandemic levels—no doubt due to heavy demand for advanced chest imaging.

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Pandemic’s hardest hit breast-care segment: Screening mammography

COVID-19 set back screening mammography further than any other category of breast care, dropping schedule adherence during infection peaks to 36% of pre-pandemic rates.

There have been a big increase in interest in cardiac CT following the publication of the 2021 ACC Chest Pain Evaluation Guidelines, which raised CT angiography (CTA) to a 1A level of evidence. This has prompted many centers to consider creating CTA programs.

VIDEO: Cardiac CT training requirements for radiologists and technologists

Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, division chief, cardiovascular imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, explains what specialized training is needed to perform coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) as interest rapidly rises in this field. 

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Advanced MSK imaging trio—CT, MR, ultrasound—justified for certain trauma patients upon incident and over time

The comprehensive approach may be warranted for patients whose musculoskeletal injuries include fractures of the costal cartilage. 

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‘You Only Look Once’ helps detect, classify lesions on deceptively normal screening mammograms

Researchers have combined three emerging technologies to detect and classify breast cancers found in follow-up imaging of women whose recent screening mammography was deemed normal.

Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA, division chief, cardiovascular imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, and a board member of the Society of cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) explains the rapidly expanding interest in cardiac computed tomography (CT) under the new chest pain evaluation guidelines.

VIDEO: The new role of cardiac CT in chest pain evaluation

Brian Ghoshhajra, MD, MBA, division chief, cardiovascular imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, and a board member of the Society of cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), explains the rapidly expanding interest in cardiac computed tomography (CT) under the new chest pain evaluation guidelines.

Radiologists best AI at diagnosing COVID on chest X-rays

AI can help humans inspect chest X-rays for COVID-19, but the technology is unfit to serve as a standalone diagnostic tool for that purpose. 

Potential $1.5B effort kicks off to study low-dose radiation risks

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have released a report estimating $100 million will be needed for each of the next 15 years to learn how exposure to low doses of radiation affect human health.

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.