Volume 9 - Issue 5, 2009

Dear Readers, This edition explores the theme of access to imaging in different health systems across the globe. Many issues, including geography, availability of technology, staffing levels, referral patterns, financial support and the clinical effectiveness of the procedures, affect access to medical imaging, and healthcare in general. For example, in countries with a large land mass and a relati...

European Partnership for Action Against Cancer The European Commission is launching a European Partnership for Action Against Cancer, planned for 2009 - 2013 to support Member States and other stakeholders in their efforts to tackle cancer more efficiently by providing a framework for identifying and sharing information, capacity and expertise in cancer prevention and control. It aims to engage a wide ra...

HYPERImage Project Advances Research on Hybrid PET/MR Scanner Philips, one of eight partners in the European Union-funded HYPERImage research project, has announced that the project has achieved a major milestone in its plan to create hybrid PET/MR imaging. This new technique is based on the simultaneous acquisition of time-offlight PET and MR images. That milestone is the development of a function...

Winter Management Workshop – Scientific Programme Details Released The planned agenda for the forthcoming Management in Radiology (MIR) Winter Course, taking place in Schladming, Austria from 14 – 16 January 2010, has been announced. The intensive workshop is coordinated with assistance from highly experienced leadership trainers from GE Healthcare who have worked with the MIR group over the last two...

ECRI Institute, a non-profit organisation, dedicates itself to bring ing the discipline of applied scientific research in healthcare to uncover the best approaches to improving patient care. As pioneers in this science for nearly 40 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. ECRI Institute’s focus is medical device technology, healthca...

Author Mr Robert George Formerly Clinical Operations Manager Dr. Jones and Partners Adelaide, Australia President International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists (ISRRT) [email protected] Providing an effective, comprehensive radiology service to any given community means taking into consideration many factors, not the least of which are the geographical...

Author Prof. Stephen R. Baker Professor and Chairman of Radiology New Jersey Medical School New York, U.S. [email protected] The United States (U.S.) healthcare agenda is the major domestic debate of President Obama’s presidency. He had made revamping of the U.S.’ pluralistic medical delivery system a cornerstone of his campaign and at his inauguration he prompted both the House of Re...

Current Status in the United Kingdom and North America Author Dr. Denis Remedios Radiologist Northwick Park Hospital Harrow, UK [email protected] Referral guidelines for diagnostic and interventional radiology have been in existence for 20 years and have been published in the United Kingdom (the Royal College of Radiologists’ “Making the best use of clinical radiology services�...

Author Prof. Mathias Goyen Chief Executive Officer (CEO) UKE Consult and Management Hamburg, Germany [email protected] Health policymakers have focused on cost containment, for the past several decades, to deal with the rapid rise in healthcare costs in the western world. All kinds of measures have been introduced in all kinds of healthcare systems. Virtually all of them have one thing in co...

Author Dr. Hema Mistry Research Fellow in Health Economics Health Economics Research Group Brunel University Uxbridge Middlesex, UK [email protected] Clinical trials measure healthcare outcomes to determine the efficacy of healthcare interventions. Economic evaluations provide valuable information to help decision-makers allocate scarce resources more efficiently and to see w...

Author Prof. Solveig Hofvind The Cancer Registry of Norway Oslo, Norway [email protected] According to Maja Primic-Zakelj, at the Epidemiology and Cancer Registry Unit, Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia, “Population-based cancer screening using evidence- based tests has considerable potential to improve the health of the population, provided that programmes are i...

Author Dr. Anthony Stevens CEO Medical Options Ltd. London, UK [email protected] Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is now an established technique for cancer diagnosis and is increasingly being used to follow-up cancer therapies. As a mature modality, the challenge now is for the molecular imaging community to increase patient numbers through a wider adoption of 18FDG scanning and...

Author Lorrie A. LeGrand Baptist Hospital of Miami Department of Radiation Oncology Miami Florida, U.S. [email protected] Managing a radiation oncology department brings its own unique challenges. There are a multitude of work processes to consider and such a diverse group of employees to lead, that some days the word “challenge” is a distinct understatement. In this article,...

Author Dervla Gleeson Managing Editor IMAGING Management [email protected] The European Working Time Directive (EWTD) was designed to enhance the wellbeing of European workers to ensure that they are protected from being obliged by employers to carry out excessive hours, healthcare workers included. However, it has had a profound effect on the structures of the working life of h...

Interviewee Prof. Hedvig Hricak Chairman Department of Radiology Carroll and Milton Chair in Radiology Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre Also, Professor of Radiology Weill Cornell College of Medicine New York, U.S. [email protected] Prof. Hedvig Hricak is a noted innovator in the field of oncologic imaging. She has helped develop new modes of imaging for different GU and GYN...

Finnish healthcare is divided into the public and private sectors. The public sector is significantly larger than the private sector in Finland. The private sector consists of small health centres and some specialised hospitals (e.g. for heart surgery, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, etc.) mainly concentrated in cities. Citizens can choose freely between the private and the public sector. While the private se...

Author Prof. Seppo Soimakallio Head of Department Department of Radiology Pirkanmaa Hospital District Tampere University Hospital Tampere, Finland [email protected] How is Medical Imaging Organised in Finland? Finland is divided into 20 hospital districts, each containing either a central hospital or a university hospital, with a total of five of those in the country, located in...