Wednesday Bits and Bytes: Cancer Risk from Medical Radiation Overestimated?

December 01, 2010 by Cat Vasko

According to a study presented today at RSNA, the risk of developing radiation-induced cancer from CT might be lower than we think. In a retrospective study of Medicare claims from 1998 to 2005 that included more than 10 million records, cancer incidences related to ionizing radiation from CT were estimated to be 0.02% for one group of patients and 0.04% for the other. “Our findings indicate a significantly lower risk of developing cancer from CT than previous estimates of 1.5% to 2% of the population,” said...

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ACR economic update

October 14, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

At last, the moment you’ve all been waiting for—the ACR’s economic update, delivered by Maurine S. Dennis, MPH, MBA, director of economics and government relations at the ACR. The room was packed with eager attendees as Dennis began her presentation on the expected pessimistic note. (Is it just me, or has the theme of this RBMA meeting been mordant pessimism?) Dennis illustrated the reimbursement forecast simply: a big orange arrow pointing down. The assembled audience laughed, of course, but I got the sense it was a laugh-so-you-don’t-weep situation.

“Just to give you an...

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What’s new in CTU

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

It’s a cool, sunny morning here in San Francisco, and the Stanford MDCT conference continues with Session V, looking at hepatobiliary and genitourinary imaging with CT. Knowing what urologists need and expect from their colleagues in radiology is particularly important as imaging continues to disseminate into other subspecialties, which is why I enjoyed Dr. Elliot Fishman’s examination of the pitfalls of MDCT imaging of renal masses.

Fishman noted that “there’s no one single phase that will visualize all the lesions” in the kidney, emphasizing the importance of both the non-contrast and subsequent phases—particularly...

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CTC: is the tide turning?

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

In the hours leading up to lunch, the talk here at Stanford MDCT turned to CT colonography, the hotly contested (well, by CMS, anyway) technique for virtually scanning the colon for cancer. C. Dan Johnson, MD, kicked off the CTC presentations with a look at the five requisites for performing high-quality CTC:

  * Patient preparation   * Colon insufflation   * Scanning technique   * Training of radiologist   * Interpretation

Abe Dachman, MD, of the University of Chicago Medical Center, took the podium to elaborate on colon insufflation, sharing a few “tricks of the trade” with the assembled...

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Lunch date with 320-slice CT

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

I just had lunch with 320-slice CT. Well, not exactly, but the fine folks at Toshiba sponsored a delicious lunch accompanied by a presentation on the use of the technology in a community hospital. Dr. Jeffrey Dardinger of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Kentucky presented on how his hospital has been using their Aquilion ONE system in the year or so since installation.

In short, they’re using it everywhere. Dardinger described the system as a kind of one-stop shop for imaging. Positioned between the radiology department and the ED, it’s being used constantly—9,000 scans...

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Scanning thin, reading thick . . .

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

. . . and storing how, exactly?

That was the question that kicked off this afternoon’s session on workflow and image processing. Jeffrey Mendel, MD, began his presentation by observing that to believe the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, imaging is currently awash in exciting, amazing new technology. “But somehow that great new technology that I see on the cover of the times never seems to make it to me,” he said.

Why? Well, 3D image reconstruction and analysis are all well and good, but issues remain when it comes to storage of all...

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The ins and outs of implementing a 3D lab

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve contemplated opening up a 3D lab, I’d be a rich woman.

Okay, that’s a lie. But more and more imaging centers are considering taking their 3D interpretations off the scanner, out of the hands of the radiologists and into a separate 3D lab staffed by specialized techs. Techs like Laura Pierce, one of this afternoon’s presenters, who’s been doing 3D since the mid-nineties and, as such, is well aware of the ins and outs of implementing a 3D lab.

“You probably...

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Workstation face-off liveblog

May 20, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

Here it is, the entry you’ve been waiting for—the workstation face-off liveblog! For those new to blog readership, here’s how liveblogging works: I’ll update this entry continuously throughout the face-off, with my newest updates appearing at the top. Keep refreshing to stay on top of all the action!

TeraRecon’s up next. The presenter opens it up in a CTA protocol; the system removes the table and bone automatically as Dr. Herzog cleans up the image a little bit. Now he’s isolated the vessels and is cutting away an artery, then moving...

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The buzz on iterative reconstruction

May 19, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

Greetings from sunny San Francisco, and thanks for checking out the inaugural run of STAT READ, the ICI’s one and only meeting and tradeshow blog! Cat Vasko, editor of ImagingBiz.com, here to keep you up to date on all things MDCT.

This morning’s general session on dosing and radiation exposure included an in-depth look at the latest buzzword in cutting-edge CT technology: iterative reconstruction.

Norbert Pelc, ScD, kicked off the discussion with a rundown of how IR works and what makes it different from filtered back projection, the algorithm type currently employed...

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Arterial enhancement in subsecond scans

May 19, 2009 by Cheryl Proval

Just watched a terrific session by Dominik Fleischmann, MD, on controlling arterial enhancement in subsecond scans—definitely a growing issue as MDCT technology continues to improve. How do you inject for fast acquisitions, like the single-heartbeat scans made possible by 320-slice CT?

Fleischmann presented three possibilities: injecting for the duration of the scan, doing a moderate delayed injection like in 64-slice protocols, and individually tailoring injections to each patient. Though the first two methods can be made to work, obviously the ideal method would be #3: individualized injection protocols. But how can this be done when cardiac output...

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