MITA » In the News

CT guidance helps brain hemorrhage outcomes

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:51:59 +0000

Intracerebral hemorrhage is becoming less deadly and more surgically treatable, thanks to a new CT-guided technique that applies drugs directly to clots in patients’ brains via a catheter, dissolving them within a couple of days, according to a new study presented this week at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans.

Approximately half of people who suffer from intracerebral hemorrhage die from it, said researchers from Johns Hopkins University in a statement accompanying release of the study, which was also performed at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Chicago. Most patients receive only supportive care in an intensive care unit; craniotomy surgery is risky and undertaken in only about 10% of patients.

The paper by lead author Dr. Daniel Hanley and colleagues describes a procedure in which the surgical team makes a dime-sized hole in the skull near the clot and then guides a catheter through the hole and directly into the clot. The catheter is then used to drip small doses of clot-dissolving tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) into the clot for a couple of days.

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Device Industry, FDA, Reach User Fee Accord

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:05:23 +0000

After missing a statutory deadline, the Food and Drug Administration and the medical device industry have reached a tentative agreement on a proposal to renew the agency’s authority to collect the user fees that help fund its device approval process.

The medical device agreement is the final user fee proposal that the agency negotiated with industry stakeholders. Those agreements are meant to form the basis of reauthorization legislation in Congress. Unless lawmakers reauthorize the user fees proposal, they will expire Sept. 30.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the ouse Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Wednesday that she was not sure when the agency would be able to submit the final agreement to Congress.

“There are still some i’s to dot and t’s to cross,” Hamburg said. “We will move as swiftly as we can to be able to present it to all of you.”

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Women not following through with recommended breast screening MRI

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:56:58 +0000

“It’s hard to tell where, exactly, is the disconnect,” says Deborah Glueck, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and associate professor of biostatistics and informatics at the Colorado School of Public Health, the paper’s senior author.

But no matter the disconnect, the result is clear: women who should be getting breast screening MRI are not.

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Robotic IMRT-APBI works well for breast cancer patients

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:03:27 +0000

For qualified patients diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, accelerated partial-breast irradiation (APBI) brachytherapy offers an abbreviated course of treatment. But APBI delivered by a robotic intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) system offers the additional advantage of being noninvasive.

Unfortunately, only a handful of cancer treatment centers offers this robotic treatment. Why? Reimbursement by private health insurance companies is problematic, as the treatment is considered experimental.

Dr. Sandra Vermeulen, executive director of the Radiosurgery Center at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, thinks this is a big mistake. After purchasing a CyberKnife (Accuray) system in 2006, her center was the first in the U.S. to offer this type of breast cancer radiation therapy.

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PET/CT May Spare Neck Dissections

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:38:06 +0000

PET/CT imaging demonstrated good accuracy for identifying patients who can avoid neck dissection after definitive chemoradiation therapy for head and neck cancer, according to a study reported here.

Retrospective chart review documented that none of the 45 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with negative post-treatment PET/CT imaging went on to have locoregional recurrence.

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Groundbreaking portable PET scanner moves closer to market, medical applications

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:49:05 +0000

Prior to the development of the wearable scanner, PET scans required animals to be immobilized or unconscious, preventing the simultaneous study of neurochemistry and conscious movement. The initial invention, dubbed RatCAP (Rat Conscious Animal PET), overcame that obstacle. This high-tech, custom-built collar made up of detectors that monitor brain chemistry enables correlation of that information with the animal’s activity in real-time.

“This device is the result of more than 10 years of work here at Brookhaven Lab and is the first in the world with this capability,” said David Schlyer, one of the Brookhaven Lab scientists who led the project. “The measurement of chemical messengers in the brain is important to understanding many different diseases and conditions such as drug addiction and movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease.”

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Follow-up protocol performs well in CT lung screening

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:51:15 +0000

Researchers reported good results with a protocol for working up patients with nodules found on CT lung screening, according to research in the February American Journal of Roentgenology. The algorithm produced low false-positive rates, and could make the establishment of large-scale CT screening programs more feasible.

Researchers in the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) developed a follow-up protocol that uses shape, size, and growth rate for determining whether a lesion should be biopsied. They tested the algorithm in a study of almost 5,000 CT lung screening patients, finding that it yielded malignancies in almost three-fourths of fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNABs), as well as 100% of bronchoscopies and one ultrasound-guided lymph nodule biopsy. Overall, less than 0.5% of CT-detected nodules were biopsied and found to be benign.

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Debunking myths about the costs of medical imaging.

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:36:25 +0000

A new analysis of 2010 Medicare claims data shows that spending on medical imaging continues to decline and that Medicare patients are actually receiving fewer imaging procedures-debunking the myth that life-saving diagnostic imaging exams and radiation therapy are increasing health care costs.

The Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA) conducted the analysis-based on data tabulated by Direct Research LLC-to determine the impact of reimbursement cuts to medical imaging over the last five years on spending and utilization.

Contrary to policymakers’ faulty perceptions of steady growth in imaging, the data show that spending on imaging services for each Medicare beneficiary has dropped 13.2 percent since 2006, when significant imaging-specific reimbursement cuts from the Deficit Reduction Act began to be implemented, and imaging utilization per beneficiary declined by 3 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, spending for non-imaging Medicare services has grown by 20 percent since 2006 and utilization increased 2 percent in 2010. The analysis also found that imaging is now a smaller portion of Medicare spending than it was in 2000.

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Pre-op MRI changes surgical plans for prostate cancer patients

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:49:31 +0000

The additional information provided by preoperative prostate MRI influenced the extent of surgery in 27% of patients who underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP), according to a new study published online January 24 in Radiology.

Initial surgical plans were changed in 28 of 104 patients, with 17 cases changed to a nerve-sparing technique and 11 altered to a non-nerve-sparing technique. In patients whose surgical plan was changed to the nerve-sparing technique, researchers found no positive margins on the side of the prostate after the change in treatment plan.

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PACS app alerts radiologists of follow-up studies

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:28:42 +0000

Researchers are reporting their experiences with a PACS plug-in app that allows radiologists to automatically track whether follow-up imaging studies have been performed. The app opens the door for an expanded role in patient management — and closer relationships with referring physicians.

By creating an electronic “tickler” or reminder file, radiologists can easily monitor their recommendations for follow-up imaging studies, co-author Dr. Mikhail Nekhline, from Henry Ford Hospital, told AuntMinnie.com. The app also allows radiologists to establish a closer rapport with referring physicians and to help alleviate their burden.

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