MRI has developed rapidly over the past decade in Poland, where clinicians are combining MRI with PET and CT to highlight tumour growth or regression and perfusion. ‘The fact that MRI offers new software and programmes means we can diagnose pathologies more precisely and make a diagnosis faster than a few years ago,’ explained Poland’s national advisor on radiology and diagnostic imaging…
The UNESCO World Heritage City Bergen is seen as the gateway to the fiords of Norway. However, for radiologists the city offers an even more interesting attraction than Scandinavian landscapes. Bergen features one of the largest randomised control trials to compare digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) with digital mammography (DM): the To-Be trial. Professor Solveig Hofvind, head of BreastScreen…
MR Fingerprinting and Compressed Sensing are two procedures that will facilitate much faster MR sequencing than currently possible – and more. ‘MR Fingerprinting will revolutionise MRI scanning,’ according to Dr Siegfried Trattnig, head of the Centre of Excellence for High-Field MRI at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. ‘It will completely change the way MRI scans are currently…
Confirming or infirming hypotheses has long driven scientific research; however, this traditional and costly approach is giving way to data-driven initiatives, according to Prof. Laure Fournier, a leading radiologist at Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris. “Usually we formulate the hypothesis first, then take an image and analyze it. We like that in France, it comes from Descartes. The…
With the launch of the new Aplio a-series, Canon Medical Systems extends their product portfolio across all existing market segments. Aplio a550 and Aplio a450 are completely new ultrasound systems, designed for the Aplio a-series product line-up. These systems build upon the Aplio i-series architecture, allowing clinicians to benefit from premium imaging performance during daily routine…
With UltraDrape, Parker Laboratories, Inc. announces the launch of a uniquely designed dressing for use during Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Intravenous (UGPIV) procedures. The first-of-its-kind dual-action dressing was engineered to address the challenges that often accompany UGPIV: extended procedure times, securement failure – a result of inadequate gel removal, and, as a result, increased…
What do customers say? To answer this question, medavis, a provider of radiological workflow solutions, regularly conducts a customer survey of its users. The aim is to review the company's own quality standards and internal key figures and to consistently place the results of the survey at the centre of future trade. The Karlsruhe specialist for radiology workflow solutions keeps all values at…
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and end-users in the field of dynamic radiology can now benefit from new detectors and imaging solutions to further enhance patients’ examinations. The digital technologies produce greater quality images at a lower dose for end-users and patients, which helps OEMs to make their systems more attractive on the market. Thales is driving the shift from…
The overall UK radiology equipment market spend for the six months to the end of March 2018 is down by around 30% compared to the same period in the previous year. This is according to latest figures from AXREM (the Association of Healthcare Technology Providers for Imaging, Radiotherapy and Care), which represents all the major medical imaging manufacturers active in the UK. Commenting on the…
In today’s operating rooms, increasing fluoroscopic procedures keep interventionists at work longer, wearing the hugely heavy lead aprons necessary for protection against radiation. Chronic back pain is often accepted as something that simply comes with the job. Relief has arrived at last in the form of Zero-Gravity, a suspended radiation protection system designed to increase radiation…
‘Breast cancer rates are continuously increasing, and we don’t yet have a means of prevention,’ said Dr Clemens Kaiser, from the Medical Faculty Mannheim, at Heidelberg University, who believes the only way to save more patients from death, after providing the best possible diagnostics procedures, is via precision medicine: the right treatment at the earliest possible time. The radiologist…
AI-based applications will replace radiologists in some areas, the physicist Bram van Ginneken predicts. ‘The profession of radiologist will change profoundly,’ predicts Gram van Ginneken, Professor of Medical Image Analysis at Radboud University Medical Centre. The cause is automatic image analysis by computers (first published in a paper in 1963) and deep learning.
The radiographer in Switzerland faces many issues, from having the right education to positioning themselves both professionally and legally in the healthcare continuum. Before a large audience at ECR 2018, Yves Jaermann, head of the radiographers service Riviera-Chablais Hospital in Vaud Valay, reviewed the situation in his country. The profession of radiographer was born in 1896, when the first…
Tracy Accardi, Hologic’s Vice President (Global R&D), spoke of the importance of innovation, tomosynthesis, artificial intelligence/deep learning and open dialogue with the radiology community. Hologic addresses a broad spectrum of gynaecological, perinatal, aesthetic, skeletal and breast women’s health issues. To enhance this approach, Accardi, explained the importance of working closely…
Gadolinium-containing/gadolinium-based contrast agents (GCCAs/GBCAs) and their usage was a major topic at ECR 2018. Fuelled by the current debate a number of presentations focused on possible impact, risks and necessities. Some were highly specific, others took a broader view. The only consensus, however, seems to be the need for more research and the focus on safety. Three ECR speakers, Joseph…
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed nationally among men. The National Cancer Institute estimates 161,000 were diagnosed in 2017. While there are many treatment options for men with prostate cancer, a recent national study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared the effectiveness of treatments for high-risk prostate cancer. Said Daniel Krauss,…
Villa Sistemi Medicali, characterized by its strong propensity for innovation, has decided to invest in the use of the latest augmented reality technologies first in its industry, to promote its products in an unprecedented and effective way. In collaboration with Realmore (business unit of Equent Media Group) and MCommunication, Villa Sistemi Medicali has developed "RAD/AR", an…
Immunotherapy is taking center stage in imaging, but patient follow-up with CT is no cookie and may fall short in the peripheral limbs, brain and bone marrow. MRI offers specific benefits in these situations, and, combined with PET, it may bring even more results. Research must be carried out on quantitative techniques and tracers developed to fully exploit that potential, Prof. Dow-Mu Koh…
With immunotherapy, bigger lesions may be spotted on CT, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the disease is progressing. As treatment works, it can cause what has become known as pseudo disease progression; and this is just one of the many revolutions immunotherapy is triggering in oncology imaging, Professor Clarisse Dromain (Lausanne/CH) explained as she opened the session dedicated to this…
When it comes to radiographers, Spain has one of the shortest curricula in the world. But advanced imaging and the continuously rising demand for imaging studies require properly trained imaging graduates, and universities have a role to play in the debate, according to Salvador Pedraza Gutiérrez, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of the School of Diagnostic Imaging Technicians in…
I’ve watched the used imaging equipment market for the last 40 years and it seems like every year, at ECR, I have a conversation with friends comparing the USA and EU markets. Clearly, the market is more developed in North America than it is in Western Europe. Why?
Some time in the distant future artificial intelligence (AI) systems may displace radiologists and many other medical specialists. However, in a far more realistic future AI tools will assist radiologists by performing very complex functions with medical imaging data that are impossible or unfeasible today, according to a presentation at the RSNA/AAPM Symposium during the Radiological Society of…
The Clinica Creu Blanca Diagnostic Group in Barcelona, Spain, is the first clinic in Europe to use Canon Medical System’s new Celesteion PET-CT Scanner. Dr. Xavier Alomar, Head of the Diagnostic Imaging Department at the Clinic, explains how the new system has opened up a large field of diagnostic possibilities for the Group in Metabolic Medicine in Oncology, Neurology, Cardiology and…
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) separates blood from the brain tissue and protects the brain by allowing certain substances to pass while keeping others out. Walter H Backes, with his interdisciplinary team of Maastricht UMC and Leiden UMC, are hot on the tracks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as they aim to visualise small vessel leakage in BBB.
The development of new procedures to monitor cancer treatments is gathering momentum. One such innovation is liquid biopsy. This new lab technique allows non-invasive identification, characterisation and monitoring of circulating tumour DNA. Thus, liquid biopsy can potentially revolutionise oncological diagnostics – and put a spoke in the wheel of radiology. High time to act, says Professor Dr…
