A novel radiopharmaceutical probe developed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has the potential of providing physicians with information that could save the lives of patients with ischemic stroke or pulmonary embolism. Both conditions are caused when important blood vessels are blocked by a clot that has traveled from another part of the body. In a report that will appear in the October issue of the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology and has been published online, the MGH team describes using this new probe to conduct full-body scans in an animal model. Preliminary results also were reported earlier this year at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

3-D tomosynthesis is the latest technology to provide clearer images during screening and diagnostic procedures; however, it has not always been widely available. Hologic was the only vendor with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval until April of this year, when Siemens received the much-awaited green light to sell their product in the United States. In the KLAS report Women's Imaging 2015: Are New Technologies Delivering Promised Benefits?, data shows Hologic is still dominating the 3-D tomosynthesis marketplace but is facing competition from Siemens and GE. Now approved, Siemens did not waste any time upgrading their systems, and providers are responding positively. GE is not receiving the same response from users because their 3-D system is lagging due to implementation delays.