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MRI screening for women considered to be at high or moderate risk for breast cancer is more effective in the detection of the disease in the early stages than either half-yearly digital ultrasound and/or annual mammography, according to a recent prospective study published online Feb. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
FDA has reported several cases where radiologic technologists at mammography facilities falsified quality control (QC) records (processor QC testing, phantom image QC testing or both), and other technologists falsified registration cards from the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.
States are using the “deeply flawed and widely discredited” U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) mammography recommendations to deny women coverage for mammograms, and many women are forgoing mammography care based on those recommendations, according to a survey conducted by the Avon Foundation for Women.
The percentage of women 40 and over who had a mammogram in the last two years has slightly decreased in the last decade, from about 70 percent in 1999 to 68 percent in 2008, according to an annual report on U.S. health issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Breast arterial calcifications seen during screening mammography were not found to have a correlation to coronary heart disease (CHD) seen during coronary angiography, even when researchers from the departments of medicine and radiology and the division of cardiology at the Staten Island University Hospital factored in CHD severity.
The national mammography guidelines for breast cancer screening that were published in a report by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in the Annals of Internal Medicine in November 2009 have come under fire by an article published online in the December 2009 edition of the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography.
The radiation dose associated with digital mammography is significantly lower (averaging 22 percent lower) than that of conventional film mammography and the reduction could be greater in women with larger and denser breasts, according to an American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) trial in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
First Coast Oncology in Jacksonville, Fla., has added a Naviscan PEM (Positron Emission Mammography) scanner and will use both a PEM scanner and the AccuBoost image guided breast irradiation procedure for breast cancer therapy.
Cognitively impaired elderly women are found to often undergo mammography screening despite the lack of any probable benefit and guidelines should be established against screening this subgroup of women, said a study published in the Jan. 14 online edition of the American Journal of Public Health.
Written by Michael Bassett
 If the organizers of the 95th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America even considered the idea of putting together a conference that could skim along quietly underneath the radar, those thoughts ended Nov. 17 when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its controversial revised mammography guidelines.
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Dilon Diagnostics, a molecular imaging systems manufacturer, has gained ISO 13485 certification for its Dilon 6800 Gamma Camera.
Barco Medical has released a new graphics display controller for 3D imaging and digital mammography in radiology departments, the MXRT-7300.
The combination of MR imaging and mammography can provide a cost-effective way of improving life expectancy for women who have an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a study published online today in the March issue of Radiology.
Stereotactic- and ultrasonography-guided core-needle biopsy procedures may be considered to be nearly as accurate as open surgical biopsy, with lower complication rates for average-risk women suspected of having breast cancer, according to an article published in the Feb. 16 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.
Hologic, a developer of diagnostics products and medical imaging systems for women’s healthcare, reported a drop in profits for the first quarter of 2010, which ended Dec. 26, 2009.
Long Beach, N.Y.-based Long Beach Medical Center has ordered a Carestream PACS, Carestream eHealth Managed Services and a Directview CR 975 System from Carestream Health.
Wednesday, January 20 2010
Radiology Regional Breast Center in Fort Myers, Fla., has signed on to participate in the Somo-Insight Clinical Study by ultrasound system developer U-Systems.
The European PACS market will grow by about 5.9 percent annually through 2015, according to a report published by GlobalData, a market research firm.
Myriad Genetics has entered into an agreement with Mammography Reporting System (MRS) to help increase the identification of patients at high risk for hereditary breast cancer.
A new California law went into effect Jan. 1, requiring medical providers that operate mammography devices to post notices of serious violations issued by state inspectors in places where patients and staff can easily see them.
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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.