.FDG PET could be used as a noninvasive surrogate marker for tumor growth and viability in treatment of head and neck cancer, based on a rodent model study published in the December issue of Radiology.

While IT systems have the potential to enhance patient safety, improve quality of care and reduce healthcare costs, John Halamka, MD, MS, CIO of Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, believes that they also introduce new opportunities for error that need to be addressed before health IT can achieve maximum effectiveness.

Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City has chosen Agfa DX-G computed radiography (CR) system.

Paragon Health and the American College of Cardiologys (ACC) PINNACLE Network have developed a six-part webinar series focused on "Advancing the Business of Cardiovascular Care," which  features healthcare and physician leaders addressing topics related to the evolving models of cardiovascular practice.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has confirmed the recent downward trend in Medicare spending and utilization on medical imaging procedures and said imaging services declined by 2.5 percent in 2010.

Recent journal scans in the American College of Cardiology's Community on Payment Innovations discuss balancing coverage affordability and continuity under a basic health program option and the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (PPACA) Medicaid-Expansion Mandate.  

Pulmonary embolisms (PE) could be excluded as a possibility in patients meeting all eight of the pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria (PERC) in low-risk scenarios, allowing physicians to bypass tests such as CT exams typically ordered after a positive D-dimer test, according to a literature review published online Dec. 15 in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The FDA has granted humanitarian device exemption approval of Berlin Heart's Excor pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD).