Linear Rails Bear the Weight of Revamped X-Ray Table

Redesigned for use with overweight patients, an imaging table required rails with a high load capacity and extended stroke.

When Arcoma (Växjö, Sweden; www.arcoma.se), a provider of automatic x-ray equipment, originally designed its mobile imaging table, it aimed to create a flexible system that was easy to operate and kept the ergonomics of the hospital staff in mind. With a minimum table height of only 55.5 cm, the low tabletop enables patients to sit down easily, which increases their feeling of security while hospital staff avoid heavy lifting. Most importantly, the table is configured to allow radiographs on trauma patients without having to reposition them.

Complete article at Medical Device Link

NightHawk Radiology exclusive radiology provider for high-risk plaque research initiative

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho, – Preventative heart healthcare gains strong momentum today as NightHawk Radiology Holdings, Inc. announced its involvement as the exclusive radiology provider for the High-Risk Plaque Initiative (“HRP Initiative”). The HRP Initiative is a joint research effort to advance the understanding and management of high-risk plaque, which is believed to be the primary underlying cause of heart attacks and strokes.

As part of the research effort, NightHawk’s U.S. Board Certified radiologists will interpret Chest CT scans for approximately 6,000 study participants. Additionally, NightHawk Radiology Services expects its affiliated radiologists will read approximately 1,000 Cardiac CTA scans performed on a subset of participants believed to be at higher risk for a cardiac event. Cardiac CTA is a heart-imaging test that is rapidly gaining acceptance for its ability to non-invasively determine whether fatty or calcium deposits (i.e., plaque) have built up in the coronary arteries. The purpose of the interpretation of the CT Chest scans by NightHawk’s affiliated radiologists is to identify clinically significant cardiac and non-cardiac findings where the participant might benefit from its detection and follow-up.

For more information visit NightHawk Radiology

ARRS Partners With BioMed Central To Add More Than 4,000 More Images To GoldMiner(TM)

The American Roentgen Ray Society has recently partnered with BioMed Central to add more journals and images to GoldMiner(TM), the ARRS radiology search engine.

BioMed Central, a free database of peer-reviewed scientific articles has contributed over 170 journals, adding over 4,200 images to the GoldMiner™ collection raising the collection to over 170,000 images and over 225 journals.

GoldMiner

RSNA 2007 Draws Record Attendance, USA

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) announced that its 93rd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, held in November at McCormick Place in Chicago, attracted a record 62,501 total attendees.

The RSNA annual meeting, a preeminent gathering of radiologists and other medical professionals, is the world's largest international medical meeting with more than 2,300 scientific paper and poster presentations, nearly 1,500 educational exhibits and over 535,000 square feet of technical exhibit space. The meeting generates nearly $128 million in revenue for the City of Chicago.

MedicalNewsToday

More Flexibility in Angiography with Siemens Artis zeego

The world’s first Artis zeego* has now been installed at the Institute for Clinical Radiology at the University of Munich, Germany. This multi-axis, angiographic C-arm system for interventional radiology has unprecedented positioning flexibility, allowing for imaging with more precision and ease. The multiple axes create flexible fluoroscopic projections from head to toe. The isocenter is also flexible, allowing a flexible working height, which helps reduce fatigue in longer procedures. Additionally, because a larger volume is covered, the view of the patient’s anatomy is expanded. The Large Volume syngo DynaCT application can so deliver images displaying entire organs, such as the liver.

More information at Siemens.com

Novel Dark-field X-ray Technology Developed

Swiss scientists have developed a method to create dark-field x-ray images using the same wavelengths as those in standard contemporary x-ray machines.

Unlike traditional x-ray images, which show a simple absorption contrast, dark-field images capture the scattering of the radiation within the material itself, exposing subtle inner changes in bone, soft tissue, or alloys. The overall clarity of the images is striking. The improved sensitivity in measuring bone density and hairline fractures could help diagnose the onset of osteoporosis. Because cancer or plaque cells scatter radiation slightly differently than normal cells, dark-field x-ray images can also be used to explore soft tissue, providing safer early diagnosis of breast cancer or the plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

medGadget.com

Philips collaborates with International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists to simplify access to healthcare education worldwide

Andover, Mass., USA and Cardiff, Wales, UK – Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) and the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT) today announced a unique program to extend healthcare education in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. The International Access to Learning (IAL) program builds on the success of Philips’ industry-leading learning services and realizes the mission of both organizations: to improve the quality of radiographic and radiation therapy practice globally through access to education, sharing of best practices and improved collaboration between clinicians.

The first phase of the IAL program is being piloted in three countries: Estonia, Fiji and India. Participants will be able to select from Philips’ catalog of more than 300 accredited, clinical and business courses. Philips will provide these courses at no cost to the members of ISRRT Societies who can access program guidelines and registration via the ISRRT web site.

Phillips Press Release

New technology sharpens X-ray vision

Dark-field images provide more detail than ordinary x-ray radiographs and could be used to diagnose the onset of osteoporosis, breast cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, to identify explosives in hand luggage, or to pinpoint hairline cracks or corrosion in functional structures.

Up until this point, dark-field x-ray imaging required sophisticated optics and could only be produced at facilities like the PSI’s 300m-diameter, $200 million synchrotron. With the new nanostructured gratings described in this research, published online January 20 in Nature Materials, dark-field images could soon be produced using ordinary x-ray equipment already in place in hospitals and airports around the world.

physorg.com

Children's Hospital radiologist says CT scans can raise concerns for children

U.S. children every year undergo more than 4 million CT scans. These tests involve taking multiple X-ray images to get detailed pictures from inside the body that can be used to diagnose illnesses.

Thus, CT scans in recent years have become a mainstay of medicine, but there's rising concern that radiation associated with these scans may be increasing cancer risks, particularly in children.

Most recently, an article in the Nov. 29 New England Journal of Medicine said doctors need to more carefully weigh the radiation risks of a CT scan against its possible benefits.

article - Birmingham News

Novadaqs SPY System Receives Clearance for use in Organ Transplant Surgery

Toronto, Ontario - January 17, 2008 - Novadaq® Technologies Inc. (TSX: NDQ), a developer of medical imaging systems for the operating room, announced today that it has received 510(k) pre-market notification clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its imaging system for use during organ transplant surgery. Novadaq's SPY® System is the first fluorescent imaging system available for use during very complex, technically demanding surgeries such as heart, liver, pancreas and kidney transplants. SPY enables surgeons performing life saving transplants to visualize blood flow in co-joined vessels which are responsible for providing adequate blood supply and the quality of blood perfusion to the new organ.

"Intra-operative fluorescence imaging using the SPY System has opened a new portal in transplant surgery. Potentially, the days of qualitative assessment of organ appearance, pulse quality, and simple quantitative vascular flow measurements using electromagnetic devices as the sole measurement of an organ transplant are limited," said Dr. Edmund Q. Sanchez, Assistant Director of Transplantation Services, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. "Our familiarity study of SPY in liver, kidney, and pancreas transplant has demonstrated many potentially beneficial aspects of intra-operatively assessing organ perfusion through imaging. The success of organ transplantation is highly dependent on vascular patency and allograft perfusion. The SPY System has allowed intra-operative visualization of both immediately after reperfusion. The utility of SPY imaging organ transplantation is clearly evident."

Novadaq

Radiation workers and infertility, impotence

There is no scientific evidence that radiation exposure will cause impotence. Temporary sterility may occur at a lower dose of 0.15Gy (150mGy) in a few months post exposure.
All available resources need to be used while counselling persons exposed to radiation.

Ill-informed radiation workers have very exaggerated notions about the health effects of ionizing radiation. Fortunately, they are a minority. They rarely get opportunities to clear their doubts. Often, they are reluctant to ask. More so, if their doubts are on intensely private topics such as the impact, if any, of radiation exposure on fertility and sexual performance!

Sterility due to radiation exposure is a deterministic effect.

The Hindu

Samsung Electronics Develops Advanced Digital X-Ray Detector

SEOUL, KOREA - November 22, 2007 -- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world's largest provider of thin-film-transistor, liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, announced today that it has completed development of a flat panel X-ray detector (FPXD) for radiology machines, in collaboration with Vatech Ltd, a Korean medical machinery manufacturing company. By using digital imaging with thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, the diagnostic process is enhanced in many ways. In addition to delivering a much more precise image, Samsung's new FPXD imaging sensor can save medical labs considerable time and money because no film or development process is needed.

An X-ray detector is an elaborate imaging sensor that converts invisible X-ray images into digital signals, which are then instantly transformed into pictures. Today, the medical profession still relies primarily on costly, plastic-based analog film for X-ray photography applications, which can take an excessively long period of time to develop in many medical situations.

source

HealthHelp to Coordinate Radiology Services for Advanced Cardiovascular Research Study

HOUSTON — HealthHelp has entered into an agreement with BG Medicine of Waltham, Mass., to coordinate radiology services for the High-Risk Plaque (HRP) Initiative.

The HRP Initiative was formed by Merck, AstraZeneca, Philips Medical Systems and BG Medicine to collaborate on research and development of improved techniques for identifying individuals at risk for heart attacks and of advanced methods to monitor disease progression and treatment response.

"HealthHelp is honored to play a part in finding solutions to one of the largest unmet medical needs--heart attack and stroke prevention," said Cherrill Farnsworth, president and CEO of Houston-based HealthHelp. "We are providing a variety of imaging-related services to enable this first-of-its kind study."

source article

Report questions cost-effectiveness of digital mammography

Digital mammography may be more cost effective than film mammography when used on women who are under age 50, premenopausal or who have dense breasts.

The research findings in Tuesday's edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine follow a study of data collected through the Digital Mammography Imaging Screening Trial, a massive American College of Radiology Imaging Network effort that enrolled more than 49,500 women in the United States and Canada.

The initial article on the data, published in November 2005 by the New England Journal of Medicine, suggested that digital mammography is more accurate as a cancer screening tool in younger, premenopausal woman who have dense breasts.

Now, it appears that more expensive digital mammograms may be warranted only for women in this subset.

source article is here