A notable increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases has led to a surge in sales of high-end diagnostic machines, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which in turn is fostering demand for MRI-safe pulse oximeters, according to a new market report.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, in conjunction with researchers at the University of Wisconsin and Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, have received a Department of Energy grant to solve a production roadblock for the radioactive isotopes 43Sc and 47Sc. These radioactive isotopes of the metallic element scandium (Sc) appear to be ideal for visualizing and then destroying solid tumors. A barrier, however, blocks their use — the inability to rapidly produce and purify the isotopes in useful amounts. 43Sc has a half-life of 3.9 hours, so every four hours more than half the radioactivity is lost. It must be used in a positron emission tomography (PET) scan the same day it is made.

A new 3-D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) computing technique developed by scientists in WMG at the University of Warwick focuses on hierarchical template matching (HTM) to diagnose cardiac disease without the use of gadolinium contrast. The technique is explored in an article in the journal Scientific Reports.

Fujifilm Medical Systems U.S.A. Inc. recently announced that Ashley County Medical Center (Crossett, Ark.) has invested in new upgrades to its Fujifilm Aspire Cristalle digital mammography solution. Fujifilm upgraded Ashley County Medical Center’s Aspire Cristalle unit with digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), making it the first Fujifilm 3-D digital mammography solution to be installed in Arkansas.

Radiation dosimetry company announced plans to exhibit its full range of radiation therapy dosimetry solutions for acceptance, commissioning, beam data acquisition and patient-specific quality assurance (QA) at the 2019 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting, Sept. 15-19 in Chicago.

Ultrasound imaging company Terason has partnered with DiA Imaging Analysis, provider of artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions for ultrasound analysis, to provide its cardiac solutions on Terason's point-of-care ultrasound devices.

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) is launching a new RSNA Global Learning Centers (GLC) program beginning in 2020. By partnering with established radiology departments based in low- or middle-income countries to create the learning centers, RSNA aims to improve radiology education and patient care around the world.

A personalized approach to cancer treatment has become more common over the last several decades, with numerous targeted drugs approved to treat particular tumor types with specific mutations or patterns. However, this same personalized strategy has not translated to radiation therapy, and a one-size-fits-all approach for most patients is still common practice. Moffitt Cancer Center researchers hope to change this mindset for radiation treatment with the development of a genomically-based model that can optimize and personalize a radiation dose to match an individual patient’s needs.

Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany, has started using the RayStation treatment planning system for carbon ion therapy treatments. The center is now using RayStation for both particle therapy and photon therapy.

Glassbeam Inc. revealed several technology enhancements in its Rules & Alerts engine that make it dramatically easier and faster for users in large organizations to create and maintain rule-based notifications. This new functionality now comes bundled with machine learning algorithms for triggering alerts based on anomalous values on various types of medical imaging system sensor and log data. Combined with several other features, the new functionality enhances the rules lifecycle management across hundreds of users inside a large enterprise environment where they can create, test and launch new business rules on incoming machine data from thousands of connected assets.