Evolution of a field
Will software steal the heart of cardiology?
Celebrating 40 years of PCI, cardiologists fret over their future with big data, machine learning and robots.
Keyword: angiography
40th anniversary
Angioplasty - the technique that revolutionised cardiology
Coronary angioplasty is arguably the most revolutionary breakthrough in the history of cardiology. While the technique is today performed on millions of patients worldwide, its origins can be traced back to Zurich, Switzerland, in the late 1970s.
Transducers
3-D transducers prove their mettle in cardiology
One of the first facilities to purchase a complete set of the 3-D TEE transducer, including the equipment, was the Department of Cardiology and Angiology at University Hospital Magdeburg, as Thomas Groscheck, specialist physician for internal medicine at the echocardiography lab explains. Since July 2015 he has worked with the new Siemens transducer – and is enthusiastic.
Predicting plaques
Exposing the secrets of the heart
Coronary interventions often rely more on art than science as the decision to treat a patient tends to be based on what clinicians can see, a subjective interpretation of cardiac imaging. Two new techniques have emerged for cardiovascular diagnostics that are enabling software to help surgeons and cardiologists measure, and thereby better manage cardiac disease. Both rely on powerful computer…
Stroke
Imaging in intra-arterial interventions
Stroke patients will first undergo a CT scan as they enter the hospital. Before any further imaging scan is carried out, the medical team must decide whether they need to intervene intra or extra cranially. ‘Imaging enables you to see which pathology you are dealing with and helps you select patients for either recanalisation or revascularisation or, in some cases, occlusion by embolisation,’…
Scanner
Treat better, see more, work faster with INFINIX 4DCT
Did we get all of the tumor during a cone beam CT? Can the patient hold his breath for several seconds during a CBCT acquisition? There is only one sure way to answer these critical clinical questions. Get the patient to a CT scanner.
Cardiology
Big data in cardiac CT
CT angiography (CTA) is evolving from a morphological – anatomical – to a functional imaging modality. In the past two years, cardiac CT perfusion measurement techniques were launched that predict which lesion will cause a reduction in blood flow.
Cardiology
Rethinking acute aortic syndromes
Technological advances in CT imaging have sparked a veritable explosion of imaging data. Pushing against the rush of novel imaging findings there is, what Dr Geoffrey Rubin calls, the slow wave of adoption in medicine, the acceptance and agreement of the clinical community for new diagnostic assessments.
Patient mood can impact medical procedure results
Feeling high levels of distress, fear and hostility prior to undergoing an angioplasty or other interventional radiology procedure may lead to a poor outcome, according to new research presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Trinias MiX-Package
Shorter treatment times and less contrast media
In the year of its 140th anniversary, Shimadzu has released the new Trinias MiX package (Minimally invasive eXperience) to support less invasive treatments through a variety of applications. The Trinias MiX package is an exten¬sion of the Trinias angiography system, which facilitates high-level interventions through proprietary image processing technology. Shimadzu provides functional…
CT angiography links arterial plaque with diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol
Non-calcified arterial plaque is associated with diabetes, high systolic blood pressure and elevated 'bad' cholesterol levels in asymptomatic individuals, according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology.
Blindness
OCT technology detects blood vessel in the eye
Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) demonstrates that technology invented by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute can improve the clinical management of the leading causes of blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography could largely replace current dye-based angiography in the management of these…
Passion for details
Discover new clinical values in X-ray imaging
Premieres in Europe: The new RADspeed fit (DR ready) with its best-in-class features for general radiography as well as the new MobileDaRt Evolution EFX for mobile X-ray applications are the most recent developments provided by Shimadzu. Together with angiographic, R/F and C-arm systems, they make the main attractions on Shimadzu’s stand at ECR 2015 in Vienna, Austria – 4-8 March, Expo C,…
Vulnerable plaque imaging
Looking for the perfect modality
What's the ideal solution for vulnerable plaque imaging? 'A non-invasive imaging procedure with high spatial and temporal resolution, and without radiation exposure, and which provides information on coronary plaque composition precisely and in series.' Report: Axel Viola
Compact, comfortable and cost-effective
Toshiba’s new 1.5-T MRI Vantage ELAN system is not only cost-effective, the firm reports, but truly compact; it needs only 23 square metres of space. Yet, the system uses the same type of magnet as other Toshiba products to achieve excellent image quality.
Should CTA become a screening procedure?
With low tube voltage, reduced radiation and contrast agent dose, the system delivers sufficient and meaningful data
Infarction size and transmurality
A cardiac catheter is insufficient to evaluate the effects of a myocardial infarction. The size of the infarction and post-event cardiac muscle activity are crucial predictive parameters that determine therapy decisions
CT will remain an imaging heavyweight
Computed tomography (CT) is the modality of choice for many diagnostic issues. Whilst currently its major strength is the visualisation of anatomical detail, future technological improvements may also reduce radiation exposure.
Perfusion imaging: The future of CT?
CT scanners now nicely cover morphology. The challenge is moving to CT functional imaging without frying patients
40 years of CT scanning
Forty years ago an article was published that would change medical practice. In the British Journal of Radiology, English electrical engineer Godfrey N Hounsfield described how he had made a patient’s brain visible non-invasively by evaluating a large number of X-ray images of the skull taken from different directions.
Breakthrough with new interventional treatment technology
Preliminary data from the clinical study showed that the dose reduction achieved in the X-ray guided endovascular procedures performed on 50 patients using Philips’ ClarityIQ technology is in line with the expected X-ray dose reduction of 75%.
Siemens re-engineers radiography with flat emitter, new detector
In the highly competitive US market for interventional radiology, Siemens introduced a ground-breaking new imaging chain for the Artis line that sets a new standard for image quality.
Fame 2 rates FFR as a new gold standard
John Brosky reports on a ground-breaking trial and how CT-FFR may change the practice of invasive cardiology and cardiac surgery.
CT angiography best for low-risk patients
Incorporating coronary CT angiography (CCTA) into the initial evaluation of low-risk patients coming to hospital emergency departments (EDs) with chest pain appears to reduce the time patients spend in the hospital without incurring additional costs or exposing patients to significant risks. The report of a study conducted at nine U.S. hospitals appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The future of thoracic imaging
Will MRI become routine modality? Today, thoracic MRI is rarely performed in Europe. But this will change over the next decade, predicts Professor Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, Medical Director of the Radiology Clinic at University Hospital Heidelberg. He expects Germany to be at the forefront of this development because MRI technology, despite the high costs, is already widely used here and because CT…