Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary Cordis has recalled certain ballooncatheters after the FDA determined the product could lead to a heartattack, surgery or death.

Digirad, a provider of medical diagnostic imaging systems and services,will release Cardius X-ACT, a cardiac SPECT system with X-ACTattenuation correction.

Several societies, including ACR and ACC, have published a joint release that disagreed with CMS' conclusions in the proposed coverage of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) determination and believe that if implemented, the policy would have a profoundly negative impact on Medicare beneficiaries by limiting access to this technology for clinically appropriate indications.

Avista Capital Partners’ recently acquired medical imaging business from Bristol-Myers Squibb reported today that the FDA has grantedpediatric exclusivity for studies conducted on Cardiolite (Kit for thePreparation of Technetium Tc99m Sestamibi for Injection), effectiveJan. 8.

 Although CT angiography (CTA) has demonstrated its efficacy as anon-invasive clinical alternative to cardiac angiography, there havebeen few studies examining its utility in the evaluation of peripheralarterial occlusive disease (PAOD). According to recent researchpublished in the American Journal of Roentgenology, CTA should be used in the management of PAOD.

 Given the widespread prevalence of heart disease in the United States,methodology that allows a decrease in the time needed to perform theroughly 9 million annual SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) examswould be warmly received by clinicians. A study delivered at the recentRadiological Society of North America annual scientific assemblysuggests that some reconstruction algorithms can allow MPI acquisitionin a shorter timeframe.

 Anthracycline chemotherapeutic agents are commonly employed in thetreatment of lymphoma; however, their efficacy in combating themalignancy comes at a cost—they are cardiotoxic and are known to causecardioditis and cardiomyopathy. A study presented at the recentRadiological Society of North America annual scientific conferencesought to determine a relation between myocardial FDG metabolism withFDG PET/CT scanning and the use of anthracycline chemotherapeuticagents.

 Two-dimensional PET using 13N-ammonia as a tracer has establisheditself for the assessment of quantitative regional myocardial bloodflow (MBF) and coronary flow reserve. A multinational team ofresearchers from Switzerland and Japan, in a recent study published inthe Journal of Nuclear Medicine, sought to determine if 3D PET (with septa retracted) could provide similar accuracy.