May 1, 2014 — Neurosurgeons at UC San Diego Heath System have, for the first time, combined real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology with novel noninvasive cellular mapping techniques to develop a new biopsy approach that increases the accuracy of diagnosis for patients with brain cancer.

The radiation to me was negligible. Most of the high-energy photons emitted by the technetium my mother had swallowed were being absorbed. Enough registered on the detector for a diagnostic image, but a Geiger counter held next to Mom registered the equivalent of about one hundredth milliSievert (mSv). At seven feet away, I was plenty safe.

Imaging is critical to all medical specialties so it is logical that images should be available to specialists outside of radiology. There is a trend to reduce repeat exams by making images more easily accessible, including prior exams. This traditionally has been accomplished using the cumbersome process of mailing or physically carrying CDs to referring physicians. Often these CDs do not open or take a long time to download. Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for certified electronic medical records (EMR) also call for the sharing of medical images electronically to help improve efficiency and reduce healthcare costs. All of these factors have given rise to remote image access systems.

Congress recently passed the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (H.R. 4302) that delays a 24 percent Medicare physician payment cut for 12 months. The legislation also requires use of appropriate use criteria (AUC) and clinical decision support (CDS) software to get Medicare reimbursement, which will likely shift focus onto IT vendors who can supply this software. In addition, the use of CDS is part of Stage 2 Meaningful Use requirements for electronic medical records (EMR), so the new Medicare requirements will move CDS up on many IT departments’ priority lists.

Since entering the market in 2001, PET/CT (positron emission tomography/computed tomography) has come a long way in combining the benefits of individual PET and CT imaging. Last year saw the release of several new innovative technologies, marking improvements on previous generations of PET/CT, such as continuous data acquisition and bed motion, as well as higher image resolutions.