An 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan illustrating the effectiveness of radium-223 dichloride in treating bone metastases in breast cancer patients with bone-dominant disease has been selected as the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s (SNMMI) 2013 Image of the Year. Researchers selected this image from more than 2,000 studies presented over the course of four days during SNMMI’s 2013 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Vancouver, British Columbia – An 18F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan illustrating the effectiveness of radium-223 dichloride in treating bone metastases in breast cancer patients with bone-dominant disease has been selected as the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s (SNMMI) 2013 Image of the Year. Researchers selected this image from more than 2,000 studies presented over the course of four days during SNMMI’s 2013 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Use of CT scans in children younger than 14 years of age more than doubled from 1996 to 2005, before growth began to slow and reverse, according to a study of seven U.S. healthcare systems published in JAMA Pediatrics. The 4 million pediatric CT scans of the head, abdomen/pelvis, chest or spine performed in the U.S. each year are projected to result in 4,870 future cancers, according to Diana Miglioretti, PhD, of the Group Health Research Institute and University of California, Davis, and colleagues.

With increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease threatening to bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid by 2050, the fiscal pinch of the sequester could extend decades into the future and compromise already-limited progress on Alzheimer’s disease prevention and treatment. A letter in the New York Times detailed the data.

MR can be employed for PET attenuation correction, and PET/MR assessment for cardiac muscle viability delivered comparable results to PET acquired using PET/CT, according to research presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in Vancouver.

Image-guided breast biopsies are stressful events for women, but better communication with the radiologist recommending the procedure seems to lower patient anxiety, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Stanford University researchers have leveraged MRI exams to uncover a link between a student’s hippocampus and his or her ability to respond to intensive math tutoring. Struggling math students with a larger hippocampus demonstrated greater improvements in math performance after intensive tutoring. Read more at the link below.

At the 2013 annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI), June 8-12 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Siemens Healthcare (booth 720) will introduce Biograph mCT Flow – a groundbreaking new positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) system that, for the first time ever, overcomes the limitations of conventional bed-based PET/CT with FlowMotion, a revolutionary new technology that moves the patient smoothly through the system’s gantry, while continuously acquiring PET data.