In the News
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11.4.10
AMIC Statement on CT Lung Cancer Study
A study released on Thursday by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) demonstrates that low-dose CT scans are proven to be effective at saving lives, reducing lung cancer related deaths by as much as 20% in high-risk populations, the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) said today. The study indicated that having high resolution imaging of the chest appeared to impact other causes of death such as cardiovascular disease as well and reduced overall mortality by 7%…
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11.4.10
Study: CT scans reduce lung cancer deaths by 20% compared with X-rays
Screening smokers and ex-smokers with high-tech CT scans has been shown for the first time to significantly cut deaths from lung cancer, the leading cancer killer, federal health officials said Thursday. A long-awaited study of more than 53,000 middle-aged and elderly people who once smoked heavily or currently smoke heavily found 20 percent fewer deaths among those who underwent annual screening with a procedure known as low-dose helical computed tomography (CT), compared with those who had standard chest X-rays…
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11.4.10
MRI Images May Pinpoint Time of Stroke
MRI images can serve as a “surrogate clock” to pinpoint stroke onset in patients whose symptoms began during sleep, increasing the number of patients eligible for highly effective clot-busting therapy, according to a new study.
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10.27.10
SIGGAR Trial Results a Win-Win for Virtual Colonoscopy
A decade-long colorectal cancer screening initiative involving more than a dozen radiologists and thousands of patients across the U.K. delivered positive early results at this week’s International Symposium on Virtual Colonoscopy. In two randomized trials performed concurrently, virtual colonoscopy (also known as CT colonography or CTC) outperformed double-contrast barium enema (DCBE). And VC was equivalent to conventional colonoscopy for cancer detection, with less clinical uncertainty than initial conventional colonoscopy.
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10.26.10
New Scanners Help Cut Kids’ Radiation Risks
It resembles a space-age capsule, in which a child stands on a platform while green laser beams capture images of the spine in a matter of seconds. For scoliosis patients, this new EOS scanner at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is about more than bells and whistles. It’s all about reducing radiation doses in children whenever possible. Attention has been trained on radiation doses after news reports in the last year of patients in hospitals in California and other states receiving overdoses while undergoing brain CT scans. The California cases prompted passage of a law in the summer that will require medical centers in that state to record radiation doses for each scan.
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10.21.10
Severe Radiation Oncologist Shortage Forecast
Demand for radiation oncologists in the U.S will outpace the supply 10-fold in the next decade a report published in this week’s edition of the The Journal of Clinical Oncology says. The number of full-time equivalent radiation oncologists entering the workforce is expected to increase by just 2% in the next 10 years but the numbers of patients diagnosed with cancers that require radiation therapy will increase by 22%, according to the report by Benjamin Smith MD, and colleagues in the Department of Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson in Houston.
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10.18.10
Advocacy Group Urges Expanded Coverage of Breast Cancer Screening
A leading cancer group this week is urging expanded coverage of breast cancer screenings for a particularly high-risk group: women with dense breasts. Traditional mammograms are unreliable for detecting tumors in women with dense breasts — those with more tissue than fat — according to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Advocacy Alliance. Such women are four to five times more likely to develop breast cancer, the group says, yet 95 percent of women over 40 don’t know a thing about their own breast density or its risks…
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10.18.10
Advocacy Group Urges Expanded Coverage of Breast Cancer Screening
The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) applauds the Komen Advocacy Alliance’s call for expanded coverage of breast screenings for women who are at high risk for developing breast cancer. Imaging manufacturers agree patients and physicians should discuss both breast density as well as the appropriateness of additional screening methods, including MRI and digital mammography, which may detect breast cancer that traditional mammography can miss.
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10.16.10
Diagnosing Autism With MRI Is One Step Closer
University of Utah (U of U) medical researchers have made an important step in diagnosing autism through using MRI, an advance that eventually could help health care providers indentify the problem much earlier in children and lead to improved treatment and outcomes for those with the disorder.
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10.11.10
Benefits of Diagnostic Radiation Outweigh the Dangers
You may not realize it, but your life is radioactive. If you’ve eaten a banana lately, potassium-40 atoms in your body are shooting out thousands of particles every second. And if you’re anywhere near solid ground, you can assume that radon gas is pelting you with gamma rays. With X-rays at the dental office, radon in the basement and cosmic rays beaming down from space, we’re literally surrounded by radioactivity and high-powered radiation. Invisible, exotic and — as nuclear weapons have so clearly demonstrated — potentially lethal, radiation seems perfectly suited to inspire fear, says Jerrold Bushberg, clinical professor of radiology and radiation oncology at the UC Davis School of Medicine. “Just about every monster on Saturday morning cartoons was created by mutations and radiation,” he says.
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