News & Updates

Check here regularly for news about medical imaging and updates from MITA.

• Industry News
  02.03.12

  CT guidance helps brain hemorrhage outcomes

  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.

• Industry News
  02.02.12

  Device Industry, FDA, Reach User Fee Accord

  The proposal contains, for the first time, a significant change in how the FDA calculates meeting goals for total premarket review times, according to AdvaMed and the Medical Imaging and Technology Alliance (MITA), two of the industry groups that negotiated the agreement.

• Industry News
  02.01.12

  Women not following through with recommended breast screening MRI

  [T]he result is clear: women who should be getting breast screening MRI are not.

• Industry News
  01.31.12

  Robotic IMRT-APBI works well for breast cancer patients

  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.

• Industry News
  01.30.12

  PET/CT May Spare Neck Dissections

  PET/CT imaging demonstrated good accuracy for identifying patients who can avoid neck dissection after definitive chemoradiation therapy for head and neck cancer.

• Industry News
  01.27.12

  Groundbreaking portable PET scanner moves closer to market, medical applications

  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.

• Industry News
  01.26.12

  Follow-up protocol performs well in CT lung screening

  Lung cancer screening with CT is generating interest in more centers, particularly following last year’s publication of data from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showing a 20% mortality reduction among high-risk patients screened for the disease.

• Industry News
  01.25.12

  Debunking myths about the costs of medical imaging.

  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.

• Industry News
  01.24.12

  Pre-op MRI changes surgical plans for prostate cancer patients

  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.

• Industry News
  01.23.12

  PACS app alerts radiologists of follow-up studies

  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.