Medical Imaging

Physicians utilize medical imaging to see inside the body to diagnose and treat patients. This includes computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, angiography, and the nuclear imaging modalities of PET and SPECT.

TAVR, other interventional procedures may provide value for patients with carcinoid heart disease
These patients are typically treated with surgery, but those procedures carry their own risks that clinicians would prefer to avoid.
Cardiovascular health societies share new performance and quality measures for PAD management
The ACC and AHA have published updated performance and quality measures focused on the diagnosis and management of peripheral artery disease. Several other specialty societies, including SCAI and SIR, also participated in the development of this new document.
Health insurer Highmark will provide 100% coverage for all diagnostic breast imaging
The new policy applies to all health plans across Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Delaware, “removing financial barriers for essential breast cancer diagnostics.”
CCTA continues to transform cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology
Mirvat Alasnag, MD, spoke to Cardiovascular Business about CCTA's growing influence in cardiology.
Hologic issues safety alert for breast biopsy needles
The safety notice was issued due to the risk of pieces of the needles dislodging into tissue during procedures.

Sodium fluoride PET/CT points to plaques, predicts heart attack

A PET/CT study followed 40 sufferers of heart attacks and just as many matched controls imaged with conventional coronary angiography and sodium fluoride PET/CT to gauge vulnerable plaques and see potential risk of heart attack.

U.S. Alzheimer’s funding increase signed into law

A $122 million boon for U.S. Alzheimer’s research funding was signed by President Obama on Jan. 16.

PET study tests how a video game points out possible Alzheimer’s disease

Akili Interactive Labs and Pfizer are partnering to evaluate patients’ risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by following their performance while playing a specialized video game, Akili announced Jan. 9.

Tau therapeutic agent in the works

Biopharmaceutical company Intellect Neurosciences announced Jan. 16 that a potentially disease-modifying tau agent is in the preliminary stages of validation for neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s.

Congress presents plea for $122M Alzheimer’s disease funding

A bill that would increase Alzheimer’s research funding appropriations by $122 million has passed Congress and is now under deliberation by the president.

Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen produces three new spin-offs

German research center Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen announced today that the company had successfully finalized three new spin-offs within the past year to include SurgVision, Trianta Immunotherapies and Dosimetrics.

'3D nanoSIMS' molecular imaging system touts nano resolutions

A new label-free molecular imaging system called the 3D nanoSIMS could provide superior drug research studies at intensely tiny spatial resolutions, announced the National Physical Laboratory in Middlesex, United Kingdom, on Dec. 10.

Benzamide imaging agent could lead to a novel therapy for metastatic melanoma

Average survival for metastatic melanoma patients is less than 5 percent after five years—a disheartening figure, but an investigational agent incorporating benzamide in a melanin-targeted SPECT radiotracer could change the numbers, according to a study published Nov. 16 in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Medical Imaging

TAVR, other interventional procedures may provide value for patients with carcinoid heart disease

Cardiovascular health societies share new performance and quality measures for PAD management

Health insurer Highmark will provide 100% coverage for all diagnostic breast imaging

CCTA continues to transform cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology

Hologic issues safety alert for breast biopsy needles