CT fails to reliably depict early gastric cancers in patients ingesting water as a distending contrast agent, as four-fifths of cancers went undetected by gastrointestinal radiologists who experienced no significant improvements in detection even after being made were aware of patients cancers, reported a study published Feb. 28 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Evidence-based protocols and processesalthough importantmay not be sufficient for achieving high hospital performance in care for patients with acute MI (AMI). Rather, clear values and goals to be the best play an important role, according to a qualitative study that appears in the March 15 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Across a 15-year study of more than 2,600 women who underwent lumpectomies for breast cancer, radiation therapy cut the likelihood of invasive ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (I-IBTR) in half, while taking tamoxifen reduced I-IBTR by an additional 32 percent, according to a study published March 16 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Factors such as labor expenditures, shortfalls in reimbursement and health IT related costs are major drivers in hospital price increases over the past decade. Hospital costs have increased by almost 5 percent per year from 2000 to 2009, according to a report published this month that was sponsored by the American Hospital Association (AHA).

The American Medical Association is holding a vote to distribute seats between medical specialties within the organizations House of Delegates, and the American College of Radiology (ACR) is pushing its members to vote for the ACR to represent the interests of radiology and its subspecialties.

Accuray, a radiosurgery company, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TomoTherapy, a developer of radiotherapy technologies, for approximately $277 million.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--If transcatheter aortic valve implantations (TAVI) become an approved technique in the U.S., the potential reimbursement will depend on the payment model utilized by the U.S. healthcare system, according to a Feb. 28 presentation by David J. Cohen, MD, director of cardiovascular research at Saint Lukes Mid America Heart Institute in St. Louis, Mo., during the 2011 annual Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) meeting.

Texture analysis may offer a quantitative method to differentiate abnormal and normal lung regions in patients with severe H1N1 infection and provide standardized, automated detection of abnormal areas, according to a study published in this month's Academic Radiology.