At RSNA 2013, GE Healthcare will showcase a range of molecular imaging tools designed to enable treatment evaluation earlier in a patient’s care pathway. Q.Suite, a collection of capabilities designed to extend quantitative positron emission tomography (PET) by generating more consistent standardized uptake value (SUV) readings, enabling clinicians to assess treatment response. Q.Suite is designed to help improve consistency of quantitative measurements in every key area: daily quality control, scanner workflow, motion correction, reconstruction algorithms and analysis and reporting applications. Controlling these variables to increase consistency can improve the clinician’s confidence that an SUV change has useful clinical meaning.

Fabry disease can be detected using a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that was developed at the University of Alberta. The discovery of this new diagnostic tool has resulted in updated clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Fabry disease in Canada.

Hologic, Inc., a developer, manufacturer and supplier of premium diagnostics products, medical imaging systems and surgical products, with an emphasis on serving the healthcare needs of women, announced that Jack W. Cumming, Hologic's president and CEO, presided over the NASDAQ Stock Market Opening Bell Ceremony on Oct. 1, marking the start of a month-long effort to raise awareness of breast cancer and the importance of breast cancer screening. This is the eighth year that Hologic has been selected to participate in the NASDAQ opening bell ceremonies celebrating the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Civco Medical Solutions demonstrated the integration between the Protura Robotic Patient Positioning System and Varian’s Clinac iX and Trilogy medical linear accelerators via the Varian Motion Management Interface at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting.

Results of EORTC trial 10853 appearing in Journal of Clinical Oncology show that breast conserving treatment combined with radiotherapy reduces the risk of local recurrence in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). In the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) study, adjuvant radiotherapy after local excision reduced the incidence of both in situ and invasive local recurrences by a factor of two and resulted in an overall lower risk of mastectomy.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of death in high school-aged athletes. To determine if SCD can be prevented with a heart screening, The Christ Hospital Health Network (Cincinnati, Ohio), The University of Mississippi Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center partnered with USRowing and Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc. to conduct The Athlete Heart Research Study. Initial participants included volunteer high school rowers with more than two years of continuous practice who competed in the USRowing Youth National Championships, June 7 – 9, 2013, in Oak Ridge, Tenn.