Cardiovascular information systems (CVIS) are not delivering quantifiable financial benefits, according to cardiac cath lab directors who participated in an independent national survey on behalf of Wolters Kluwer Health and ProVation Medical.

Treating critical limb ischemia in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients with below-the-knee angioplasty is thwarted by restenosis, the need for repeat treatments and the continued progression of atherosclerotic disease, leading to tissue death and amputation. However, interventional radiologists have found that drug-eluting stents (DES) lessen the rate of repeat procedures to open these small arteries, according to results presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) annual meeting in San Diego this week.

The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) has issued guidelines for the interpretation and reporting of coronary CT angiography (CCTA), which will be published in the March/April issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

At a Capitol Hill briefing earler this week, colorectal screening experts said that Medicare should reimburse physicians for CT colonography (CTC) so that seniors have access to the minimally invasive screening test for detecting and preventing colorectal cancer.

As the wave toward digitizing healthcare continues to surge, more dark rooms go dark as laser imagers replace these costly and space-consuming spaces. While imagers assist with all modalities and ologies, orthopedics still relies most heavily on hard-copy images, and the imagers can help connect radiology departments to local orthopedic groups.

If the goal of ergonomics is to boost productivity and increase comfort while reducing workplace injuries and errors, never before has ergonomic furniture been a more necessary fixture and economical necessity than in todays radiology environment.

Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska, has implemented a new program to enhance care of the critically ill in remote communities of Alaska.

The use of common screening tests like the ankle brachial index (ABI), along with traditional risk scoring systems, such as the Framingham Risk Score (FRS), could prevent thousands of MIs in individuals who were not originally thought to be at high risk, according to findings presented at the 2009 meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) in San Diego this week.