Greg Freiherr has reported on developments in radiology since 1983. He runs the consulting service, The Freiherr Group.

Blog | November 20, 2012

When Seeing Means Business

PET/CT routinely plays an essential role in staging and monitoring a wide range of cancers, including lymphoma and the lung. But it has specific and significant limitations.

PET/CT routinely plays an essential role in staging and monitoring a wide range of cancers, including lymphoma and the lung. But it has specific and significant limitations.

In a skeptical world, old maxims fall hard. Photojournalists can attest to that. Seeing today is anything but believing. Not seeing has fallen just as hard. We’d like to know that we can relax when we don’t see signs of cancer’s return. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) provides that kind of relief in many cases…but not all.

Although it has become the gold standard in oncology diagnosis and monitoring, PET/CT falls short in some cases. And, in those cases, its use can create a false sense of security.

 “We sometimes find that PET has been used inappropriately for certain tumor types,”  Michael Vannier, M.D., professor of radiology at the University of Chicago, told me. “Renal cell cancer and prostate cancer are notoriously difficult to image with FDG-PET.”  

Make no mistake — PET/CT routinely plays an essential role in staging and monitoring patients battling a wide range of cancers, including lymphoma and that of the lung. But it has specific and significant limitations. Prescribing and administering the correct diagnostic tests should restore faith in the maxim, “Seeing is believing.”  Knowing which modalities to use under what circumstances constitutes the great contribution that radiology has to make to medical practice now and in the future.

You’d think, therefore, that radiologists would want to enhance their credibility by supplying to referring physicians the images upon which they base their findings. Yet, for the most part, radiology reports are textual…not visual. Perhaps referring docs have grown used to this and, despite the unprecedented ease by which images can be transferred today, they have no interest in getting those images.

What could change this attitude would be a groundswell of interest by the patients themselves. The explosion in smart phones and their applications has put the ability to view medical images at patients’ fingertips. At the same time, an increasing availability of patient portals is laying the foundation for accessing these images. If patients have them — and want to discuss them with their doctors — you can be sure doctors will want them as well. 

With that could come a dramatic change in the practice of radiology. The question is whether radiologists will be ready, when seeing means business.

Greg Freiherr has reported on developments in radiology since 1983. He runs the consulting service, The Freiherr Group. Read more of his views on his blog at itnonline.com.


Related Content

News | PET Imaging

March 23, 2023 — Nuclidium announced that the Neuroendocrine Tumors Research Foundation (NETRF) has selected the company ...

Time March 24, 2023
arrow
News | PET-CT

March 21, 2023 — Positron Corporation, a molecular imaging device company that offers PET imaging systems and clinical ...

Time March 21, 2023
arrow
News | Radiation Therapy

February 16, 2023 — TAE Life Sciences (TLS), a biological-targeted radiation therapy company developing next-generation ...

Time February 16, 2023
arrow
News | Radiology Business

February 2, 2023 — Five additional imaging centers across Allegheny Health Network (AHN) have been recognized by the ...

Time February 02, 2023
arrow
Sponsored Content | Case Study | Enterprise Imaging

Reporting produces the tangible work product of diagnostic radiologists. Reports should reflect the expertise of the ...

Time October 30, 2022
arrow
News | PET Imaging

October 19, 2022 — Blue Earth Diagnostics, a Bracco company and recognized leader in the development and ...

Time October 19, 2022
arrow
News | SPECT-CT

September 7, 2022 — The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and three partner societies have come together to ...

Time September 07, 2022
arrow
News | PET Imaging

July 20, 2022 — Blue Earth Diagnostics, a Bracco company and recognized leader in the development and commercialization ...

Time July 20, 2022
arrow
News | PET Imaging

July 19, 2022 — Radialis Inc. today announced that it has received clearance to market the Radialis PET Imager, an organ ...

Time July 19, 2022
arrow
News | PET-CT

July 11, 2022 – The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular ...

Time July 11, 2022
arrow
Subscribe Now