Oncology Imaging

Medical imaging has become integral to cancer care, assessing the stage and location of cancerous tumors. By utilizing powerful imaging modalities including CT, MRI, MRA and PET/CT, oncology imaging radiologists are able to assist referring physicians in the detection and diagnosis of cancer.

AIM: Good DTB times do not equate to other positive quality measures

Under the American Heart Associations (AHA) Get With the Guidelines program, door-to-balloon (DTB) times have decreased significantly over time; however, there was minimal correlation between DTB time improvement and changes in other quality measures or mortality, according to a study in the Aug. 10/24 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Albany university receives nearly $2M in NIH grant for vascular disease research

Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y., has been awarded a $1.9 million, five-year renewal grant from the National Institutes of Healths (NIH) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to further explore the mechanisms underlying artery disease and injury-induced blockages of blood vessels.

Cancer Research: Cancer mortality declining, partly due to screening

The number of cancer deaths has declined steadily in the last three decades. Although younger people have experienced the steepest declines, all age groups have shown some improvement, according to research published Aug. 13 in Cancer Research.

CMS seeks public comments on cardiac outcomes measures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with Yale New Haven Health Services Corporation/Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation to develop two cardiac outcomes measures based on registry data and designed for potential use in public reporting and pay for reporting of hospital quality.

Report: P4P boosts safety net hospital performance

The performance gap between safety net and non-safety net hospitals continues to shrink as a result of hospital participation in value-based purchasing, according to an analysis of the Hospital Quality Demonstration Project, released last week by the Premier Healthcare Alliance.

Lancet: Brain-tumor radiotherapy may reduce cognitive function

Even low doses of radiotherapy that are regarded as safe may contribute to progressive cognitive decline in patients with low-grade glioma brain tumors, according to a study published online Aug. 9 that will appear in the September edition of Lancet Neurology.

AHRQ: 40% of emergency department visits billed to public insurance

More than 40 percent of the 120 million visits that Americans made to hospital emergency departments in 2006 were billed to public insurance, according to the latest statistics from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

AIM: Radiation therapy may increase diabetes risk in childhood cancer survivors

Childhood cancer survivors treated with total-body or abdominal radiation may have an increased risk of diabetes, according to a report in the August 10/24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The correlation does not appear to be related to a patient's body mass index or physical inactivity.

Around the web

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.