Editorial
Hybrid Imaging in Europe
Dear readers, This edition focuses primarily on the topic of hybrid imaging. This merits particular attention as it goes through somewhat of a revolution just presently, following the collaboration of both the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) and European Society of Radiology (ESR) in solving the question of not only who will perform what aspects of hybrid imaging and nuclear medicine in t...
News
European Commission Announces Digital Agenda for Europe
The European Commission has announced a new action plan to tackle the debilitating impact of the financial crisis, which it says in a new document, has "wiped out years of economic and social progress and exposed structural weaknesses in Europe's economy". To achieve a sustainable future, the recently launched Digital Agenda action plan outlines key areas of deficiency in Europe's ability to deliver electr...
Association News
MIR Announces Programme Details for Annual Congress
Fresh programme details have been announced concerning the scientific programme of the Management in Radiology (MIR) Annual Scientific Meeting, which takes place this year in Mallorca, Spain, from October 14 - 15, 2010. The congress covers topics relevant to those leading depar tments interested in management, healthcare economics and administrative issues. Highlights of the programme, which can be foun...
24th CARS Congress Update
CARS 2010, the 24th International Congress & Exhibition of Computer Assisted Radiology & Surgery, took place successfully in Geneva from June 23 - 26. Continuing with the CARS tradition, the congress opened with a clinical day that emphasised clinicallydriven presentations relating to minimally invasive interventions. This was followed by three days of presentations and discussions on methods tools...
Register Now for CIRSE 2010
CIRSE invites you to attend its annual meeting and postgraduate course, billed as the "world's top platform for specialists in all minimally invasive image-guided procedures". The programme has been designed around seven main themes: Vascular Interventions; Transcatheter Embolisation; Non-Vascular Interventions; Interventional Oncology; Neuro Interventions; Clinical Practice Development, and Imaging. T...
ECRI Institute Expands CT Dose Guidelines
Practical recommendations for striking the delicate balance between too much and not enough radiation are presented in a new guidance article, "CT Radiation Dose: Understanding and Controlling the Risks©," released by ECRI Institute (www.ecri.org), an independent, nonprofit organisation that researches the best approaches to improving patient care. This comprehensive Health Devices© article expands on th...
Tenth IHE Europe Connectathon a Success
The 10th annual European Connectathon, a wellknown testing platform, held from 12 - 16 April in France was particularly successful this year. One of the most important results observed was that several IHE profiles were endorsed for national programmes in several countries where IHE national initiatives are active. IHE-Europe has proven throughout the last decade that the methodology used has showed good a...
Corporate Update
Sectra Provides Digital Mammography to ACT Health
Sectra has been awarded a contract to install a dedicated breast imaging PACS and three MicroDose mammography units for use in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The new integrated mammography solution will provide radiologists with the ability to access digital images and information. This way, the screening and reading centres in Canberra will be able to exchange data and share workload in a secur...
Frost & Sullivan Presents Carestream Health With Award
Frost & Sullivan has presented Carestream Health with the 2010 European Digital Radiography New Product Innovation Award. Specifically, the award recognises development of the CARESTREAM DRX-1 System, a wireless cassette sized detector that is compatible with existing equipment to provide a cost effective and rapid upgrade path to digital radiography. For the award Frost & Sullivan benchmarked Car...
Philips Announces First Mobile 3T with Multitransmit
Philips Electronics has announced the world's first Mobile 3.0T MRI system with MultiTransmit - the Achieva 3.0T TX Mobile MRI. The mobile system brings advanced MRI diagnostic capabilities to patients who previously may not have had access otherwise. Additionally, the Achieva 3.0T TX Mobile MRI will be the first 3.0T MRI system in Europe with MultiTransmit. The medical charity COBALT, purchased the first...
Cover Story
Status of Hybrid Imaging in the EU
The European Association of nuclear Medicine (EAnM) performs a biennial survey using data from its national member societies to review current nuclear medicine procedures and technology installations in Europe.2007 Survey Results The previous survey in 2007 used data from 34 national societies, and showed that over 500 PET systems were installed, of which two-thirds were combined PET/CT devices (n = 339)....
Current and Desired Qualifications in Hybrid Imaging
The great majority of professionals in nuclear medicine and radiology expect that the number of diagnostic CT scans in hybrid imaging will increase. Then, CT expertise will be a necessary part of hybrid imaging in general. Joint interpretation of images by fully trained experts in nuclear medicine and radiology and consultation between the two specialists to combine the data into a final diagnosis has the...
Investing in Hybrid Imaging Technology
Choosing a hybrid system is like buying a new car. In both cases, customers ask: Does it improve something for me? Is its technology mature? Is it cost-effective? Is it easy to operate? Is it more fun to drive? Does it make me more attractive? This article discusses investments in clinical hybrid imaging technology in general and PET-MR in particular, and examines the extent to which each option meets the...
The Hyperimage Project
The EU-funded HYPERImage research project aims to merge the concurrent PET and MR imaging techniques, with the goal of opening new fields in therapy planning, guidance and response monitoring. PET/CT scanners allow functional information such as glucose uptake rates derived from an FDG-PET scan to be co-registered with anatomical features in the CT images. However, because of MRI's superior soft tissue ima...
Applications of Molecular Imaging
Single-photon emission tomography (SPET) and positron emission tomography (PET) can be used to visualise molecular alterations in the living subject, allowing alterations in metabolic pathways to be seen, and facilitating early diagnosis and treatment of disease. FDG-PET has already been accepted as an essential tool in the staging and re-staging of many tumours. In this article, we summarise the role of m...
Multimodality Imaging for Pre-Therapeutic Molecular Radiotherapy Dosimetry
The treatment of cancer with radiopharmaceuticals is expanding rapidly, in terms of both the numbers of patients treated and the range of treatments offered (Carlsson et al. 2003). An increasing number of radiopharmaceuticals are now being introduced to the clinic and there is a strong potential for this modality to play a larger role in cancer management alongside surgery, external beam radiotherapy (EBRT...
Patient Safety
Safe Use of MRI Contract Agents
Much attention has recently been focused on the safe use of gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) in MRI with regards to nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). In the wake of its discovery and subsequent investigation, many guidelines were created on the subject. Part one of this article reviews what guidelines are, what GBCAs are, and how GBCAs are used in comparison to iodine-based contrast agents (IBCA...
Assessing the "Cost Versus Benefit" of Radiology
All nations aspire to obtaining the best value for money for their population, achieving the maximum heath gain for the money spent. Although a predominantly State-funded system like the NHS in the UK can look at these issues more readily than those with a mixed economy of healthcare, private insurers are also interested in value for money and are increasingly evaluating the evidence of benefit of treatmen...
Management
Interview With Prof. Oliver Speck
Interviewee Prof. Oliver Speck Physicist Service for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Institute for Experimental Physics Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg Magdeburg, Germany President European Society for Magentic Resonance in Medicine & Biology (ESMRMB) I have always been fascinated by technology. As a kid I took all my toys apart to see how they worked. Also, I enjoyed maths and physics at...
Interview
Healthcare In Canada
Canada's publicly funded healthcare system, known as medicare, consists of ten provincial and three territorial health insurance plans. It provides access to universal, comprehensive coverage for hospital and physician services administered and delivered by the provincial and territorial governments, free of charge. The provincial and territorial governments have most of the responsibility for delivering...
Education of Radiologists
Within the radiology specialty, the training programme is structured in accordance with the standards dictated by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC). The programme consists of one year of general training in the various medical areas (surgery, paediatric, OB-GYN, etc.), followed by four years of training in imaging. Mandatory radiology training spans a number of radiology subspe...
Radiology in Canada
Please Share with Us the Highlights of Your Career in Radiology. As a first year medical student I participated in a B.Sc. in medicine research project using ultrasound to compare the pulsations of the third ventricle in the brain intracranial pressure. When a local neurosurgery resident introduced a clinical ultrasound service I worked as an on-call technologist. Three years later he left. I started in rad...
Clinical Decision Support System
Medical imaging is a critical component of the care that health professionals provide. However, mounting evidence demonstrates that between 10 - 20% of imaging studies are unnecessary. Any clinical intervention without clear purpose or patient benefit creates waste and negatively affects quality of care. Rising costs alone for imaging are a looming threat to health system sustainability. Spending for diagn...
Profile of the Canadian Association of Radiologists
The Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR) is the national voice of radiology committed to maintaining the highest standards of care, promoting patient safety and helping radiologists contribute to the very best healthcare for patients. The CAR is particularly active on three fronts: Working with governments, health professionals and technology leaders to make optimal use of diagnostic imaging. Serving...