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PET/CT may help identify patients with disseminated seminoma that was not detected by CT scan, according to a study presented last week at the 2010 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO-GU) in San Francisco.
The results of an ongoing phase I/II study for treating advanced pancreatic cancer with a combination therapy of Immunomedics' antibody, clivatuzumab tetraxetan, (90Y-hPAM4) and anticancer drug gemcitabine, which demonstrated therapeutic activity at two 90Y dose levels with minimal hematologic toxicity, was presented with positive findings at the seventh annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in Orlando, Fla. this week.
PET/CT with C-11 acetate has higher sensitivity compared to 18F-FDG imaging in detecting primary prostate cancer, local recurrence and apparent nodal spread of the disease in both the staging and re-staging patient populations, according to research presented at the 2009 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual conference in Chicago earlier this month.
Written by Editorial Staff
The uptake of the radiopharmaceutical fluoro methyl tyrosine (FMT) on PET imaging in patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma is a significant independent predictor of poor prognosis, according to research published in this month’s issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
FDG-PET is a highly accurate way to distinguish between neurofibromas and sarcoma, according to a study from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center that was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Written by Justine Cadet
 - CMS supports NCD coverage of FDG-PET for cervical cancer - OIG cautions CMS about ultrasound overuse
Non-invasive imaging can measure how well patients with the most common form of breast cancer--estrogen receptor positive type--respond to standard aromatase inhibitor therapy after only two weeks and shows similar findings that more invasive needle sampling identifies, according to a study to be presented at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Orlando, Fla., May 29 - June 2.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been asked
by representatives from the National Oncologic PET Registry to
remove the current prospective data collection requirements as required
for certain cancers in Section 220.6 of the national coverage
determination manual for PET reimbursements.
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PET with 11C-labeled Pittsburgh Compound-B (PIB) is a powerful tool in examining the relationship between amyloid deposits, clinical symptoms and structural and functional brain changes in the normal aging and Alzheimer's disease, according to a survey in a special issue of Behavioral Neurology, released in December 2009.
Among Medicare patients who underwent surgery for colorectal cancer resection during the first 18 months of approved Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) coverage for FDG-PET imaging, there was a substantial growth in utilization of FDG-PET within two years of surgery and the highest rates of utilization occurred within six months of surgery, according to a study in the February issue of Radiology.
SPECT/CT with In111-WBC combined with 99mTc-MDP or 99mTc-sulfur colloid and FDG-PET seem to be the best imaging techniques for diagnosis of bone and joint infections, according to a review published in the January issue of Seminars in Nuclear Medicine.
PET strategies are very useful in monitoring the distribution and kinetics of vector-mediated gene expression, as well as the response to therapy in malignant glioma, according to a presentation last week at the Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics (MTCT) conference in Boston.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reissued guidance and billing instructions to Medicare Administrative Contractors on its April adjustments to the National Coverage Determination for FDG-PET, set to take place later this month.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed a national coverage determination (NCD) of FDG-PET imaging for cervical cancer staging in certain cases, due to its capability to “make meaningful changes in therapeutic management and improve health outcomes.”
FDG-PET is valuable for the assessment of recurrent colorectal carcinoma, according to a meta-analysis in the January issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
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The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
During the Health IT Standards Committee meeting on Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C., the Clinical Operations Workgroup sought to gather comments on proposed recommendations on implementation specifications for content exchange, vocabulary and code set standards for the Interim Final Rule of meaningful use.
In 2006, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a branch of the FDA, began examining the number of medical device reports they received. Over the past two years, the number of submitted reports has increased, sparking a demand for the CDRH to make a move to electronic reporting.
A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.