In the first of three roundtables on healthcare delivery system reform held by the Senate Finance Committee, participants this week discussed increasing primary care physician payments by reducing payments to imaging services providers.

U.S. sales of brachytherapy products were $240 million in 2008 and should grow to $1.98 billion by 2016--with implantable prostate seeds the largest market segment, with sales of $121.5 million in 2008 comprising 51 percent of total brachytherapy sales, according to a report from market research firm Bio-Tech Systems.

Due to its capability to simultaneously screen for colorectal cancer and abdominal aortic aneurysm, CT colonography (CTC) is a highly cost-effective and clinically efficacious screening strategy for the Medicare population, according to a study in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Royal Philips Electronics has introduced SmartArc, an independent technology for volumetric-modulated arc therapy treatment planning that can be used with both Elekta and Varian Medical Systems linear accelerators.

A 51-year-old female cancer patient from Switzerland has become the first patient outside the U.S. to be treated with RapidArc radiotherapy technology on a Novalis Tx platform for radiosurgery and radiotherapy from Varian Medical Systems.

TomoTherapy, manufacturer of the Hi-Art radiation therapy treatment system, has reported it is restating its financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) is reconsidering its rejection of stroke-treatment guidelines that would call for a CT scan within 45 minutes. However, the group maintains that the current guidelines "recommend that patients with stroke symptoms have a timely CT scan."

Hypo-fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy was well-tolerated and improved symptoms in patients with recurrent low-grade glioma, according to data presented this week at the 100th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Denver.