One of the leading figures in global radiology has highlighted the importance of fostering a strong eco-system to advance the safe and effective implementation of AI in medical imaging. Dr Geraldine McGinty said that to fully leverage the power of AI, all stakeholders must work together but underlined the unique responsibility physicians have to ensure patient interests are best served.
Tumour metabolism can be imaged with MRI as a technique to help determine cancer aggressiveness and response to therapy. The work by a UK-based group, on probing cancer metabolism non-invasively with clinical hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI, can detect metabolic changes in the tumour. As metabolic changes occur much earlier than change in tumour size, this could have implications for quicker…
At this year's virtual ECR congress, Ziehm Imaging showcases its portfolio of mobile C-arms and advanced imaging solutions. Highlights on display include two clinical packages for cardio and vascular interventions based on the fully motorized Ziehm Vision RFD Hybrid Edition, that provide clinical users with state-of-the-art imaging support and further workflow integration. The virtual booth,…
Harnessing the power of radiomics, and adopting an integrated approach to combine imaging and patient data could lead to better clinical cancer outcomes. The move has opened the door for clinicians to explore a non-invasive approach to identify the heterogeneity of a tumour and more accurately target regions for biopsy. During a presentation at ECR 2021 in March, Professor Evis Sala will…
The management of biopsied breast lesions that are diagnosed as abnormal but are not definitively malignant is challenging and controversial. Treatment ranges from diligent follow-up, with imaging and subsequent biopsy, to surgical excision. Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna (Medizinische Universität Wien), Austria, have developed and validated a software algorithm designed to…
Implementation of artificial intelligence into Scotland’s national breast screening service is moving closer following an initial success with a trial project. While Scotland’s breast screening trial has delivered highs and lows, significant hurdles have been overcome in terms of approvals, governance and patient acceptance.
The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating; countless lives lost, millions of infections worldwide, health systems overwhelmed and economies rapidly shrinking. Screening, such as for breast or cervical cancer, is an area particularly affected, with numerous appointments delayed.
A new deep learning system to help radiologists improve their workflow efficiency when reading high volumes of screening mammograms is being developed at Johns Hopkins University’s Radiology Artificial Intelligence Lab (RAIL) in Baltimore, MD. DeepCAT (Deep Computer-Aided Triage) is focused on workflow prioritization.
Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) increases detection of breast cancer in symptomatic women under the age of 60, especially in dense breasts. A large, multi-institutional study conducted in the United Kingdom comparing the sensitivity of full-field digital mammography (FFDM), DBT, and FFDM plus DBT supports findings of two similar published studies, both conducted in China in the same time frame.
Siemens Healthineers has introduced a new software solution that speeds up the entire reading workflow for breast imaging: Mammovista B.smart. Also new is the Teamplay Mammo Dashboard, a tool for dashboard-based visualization of key performance indicators (KPIs) in the breast imaging process that serves to optimize workflows. With these two new solutions, the company is extending its digital…
Improving workflow is one of the major challenges that radiology departments face. The need to be more efficient, deliver timely and effective patient care, and keep an eye on costs are all factors that seem to be ever-present in the modern imaging department. With the added demands of the coronavirus pandemic as radiology departments continue to play a critical role in the fight against…
Pan-European lung cancer screening is challenged due to the range of approaches in different countries. As attitudes towards smoking and smoking cessation programmes vary, experts are attempting to establish more unified lung cancer screening. The introduction of consistent pan-European lung cancer screening will be outlined at a special session during the online ECR 2021, with presentations…
Due to the coronavirus, hospitals and medical staff developed new work practices involving, in acute settings, social distancing, rigid use of personal protective equipment (PPE), handwashing, and disinfection of equipment every day. Additionally, portable, highly-mobile and versatile equipment came to the fore in point-of-care (POC) – particularly when wards and operating theatres are spread…
Clinical audit within radiology departments can help promote high quality medical care and improve patient experience, as well as provide educational and teaching opportunities. Aiming to see consistent delivery across Europe, clinical audit is currently under the initiative ‘Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Radiotherapy, and Nuclear medicine including Therapies’. The latest project…
With public health issues continuing to make daily mainstream news headlines across the world, it is clear how much change the healthcare environment is going through. Not only are there existing pressures on resources, space, staff, certain procedures, and budgets, but there are brand new ones resulting from the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to an even greater need for…
Building capacity, quality and safety awareness in Africa has been high on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European Society of Radiology. Transferring and adapting those concepts to African realities has been the focus of Boudjema Mansouri, a professor of radiology in Algiers, Algeria, who will explain the challenges that this task entails in a session…
Advances offered by Big Data and Artificial Intelligence within the healthcare environment are opening up new opportunities for radiographers. Roles in systems development, and being part of the safeguarding aspect by ensuring machine-based bias does not take over patient management, may be performed by radiographers alongside other contributions as AI plays an increasing role in healthcare.…
Dynamic cardiovascular applications now have their gold standard available, reports radiology equipment manufacturer Thales: The Pixium 3040 F is benefiting from the best of all technologies in one detector. 15 years of Trixell technologies in dynamic flat panel detectors, are brought together into the Pixium 3040 F from Thales. This high-end flat panel detector is specifically designed for 2D…
Carestream Health will highlight cutting-edge medical imaging technologies at the largest radiology meeting in Europe—the virtual European Congress of Radiology (ECR) in Vienna, Austria, beginning on March 3. The company will feature a wide range of products that demonstrates its leadership in digital medical imaging capture and processing, and improved user and workflow experiences.
Before Wilhelm Röntgen, a mechanical engineer, discovered a new type of electromagnetic radiation in 1895, physicians could only dream of being able to see inside the body. Within a year of Röntgen’s discovery, X-rays were being used to identify tumors. Within 10 years, hospitals were using X-rays to help diagnose and treat patients. In 1972, computed tomography (CT) scans were developed. In…
Hospital data from a wide range of disciplines, departments and specialties strongly influences crucial decision-making and planning. Agfa HealthCare’s Business Intelligence solution, for example, uses data to measure, understand and predict developments, and aims to present this information in an accessible and transparent way so that administrators need not even ask for in-house generated…
Anyone needing a tomography gets the clearest possible images of an organ or other body structure slice by slice. But the further inside the potential problem lies, the more difficult it is to obtain high-resolution images in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). An international team of scientists led by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE) has developed a high-frequency coil that allows for much…
A new type of quantum holography which uses entangled photons to overcome the limitations of conventional holographic approaches could lead to improved medical imaging and speed the advance of quantum information science. A team of physicists from the University of Glasgow are the first in the world to find a way to use quantum-entangled photons to encode information in a hologram. The process…
In order to detect the Corona virus SARS-CoV-2, there are further methods of diagnosis apart from the globally used PCR tests (Polymerase chain reaction): The infection can also be recognised on CT scans – for which Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used as well. An AI system can not only filter CT scan of Covid-19 patients from a data set, but also estimate, which areas of the image are of…
A new EU-wide repository for health-related imaging data could boost development and marketing of AI tools for better cancer management. The open-source database will collect and harmonise images acquired from 40,000 patients, spanning different countries, modalities and equipment. This approach could eliminate one of the major bottlenecks in the clinical adoption of AI today: Data bias.