The lay media often cast the screening mammo debate in black and white terms. It’s a disservice; breast imagers and physicians realize the issues are far more nuanced. Women’s right to screening is a highly emotionally charged issue, further complicating physicians’ attempts to educate women and often derailing stakeholders’ calls for targeted screening. Peggy Orenstein completed an incredibly detailed review of the risks and benefits of screening and treatment and the role of nonprofit marketing in an article published April 26 in The New York Times magazine. Check it out, and please consider sharing it.

Today Siemens Healthcare celebrated the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art ultrasound systems factory in suburban Philadelphia. The 12,000 sq. ft. facility, located at 5168 Campus Drive in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., will manufacture Siemens’ new ACUSON Freestyle™ ultrasound system – the world’s first and only ultrasound system to feature wireless transducers.

Olympus, a precision technology leader in designing and delivering innovative solutions in Medical and Surgical Products, among other core businesses, announced today that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Articulating HD 3D Laparoscopic Surgical Video System.

A trio of studies this week highlighted progress and pitfalls in breast imaging. On the positive side, research detailed the potential of breast tomosynthesis and suggested that mammography may play a role in monitoring therapy. Much less heartening was the finding that young women with breast cancer who are poor, African American, Hispanic or uninsured face delays in treatment that appear to impact outcomes.

For medical imaging equipment vendors, a global perspective is now more critical to success as market participants are no longer able to rely solely on “cash cow” markets, according to an April 25 briefing from healthcare market analysis firm Frost & Sullivan.

The Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) applauded Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Senator Ron Wyden, D-OR, and Ranking Member, Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, for their bipartisan efforts to safeguard access to helium by yesterday introducing the Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 to prevent the premature closure of the Federal Helium Reserve.

Carestream Health has shipped more than 6,000 DRX detectors since launching the CARESTREAM DRX-1, a revolutionary wireless X-ray detector used in surgical suites, ER/ICU and radiology departments—as well as clinics, imaging centers, nursing homes and field military hospitals.

Digital breast tomosynthesis coupled with 2D screening mammography improved the breast cancer detection rate compared with screening mammography only, according to a study published April 24 in The Lancet Oncology. However, the researchers preached caution and called for additional studies before applying the model in practice.