A new breast imaging technique pioneered at Mayo Clinic nearly quadruples detection rates of invasive breast cancers in women with dense breast tissue, according to the results of a major study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved for human evaluation a nanoparticle-based imaging agent jointly developed at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with Texas A&M University.

The sale and use of CT scanners could ramp up this year, thanks at least in part to lung cancer screening. Low-dose computed tomography (CT) screening programs are popping up from coast to coast. The feds are picking up the tab for Medicare patients. And, while third-party payers have not been so forthcoming, the cost of a screening exam is within many peoples’ reach.

Having been active in the age of transformation which manufacturing, retail, finance, high-tech, oil and gas all experienced in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, I realized that healthcare would have its date with enterprise-wide change. Healthcare as an industry has existed for too long in an environment of stasis. Now with the rapid pace of technology, competition and exorbitant costs, it is evident to the patient, the competition, the government and the rest of the world that it must adapt to survive. Medical imaging is a profit center for most healthcare providers and has historically been the hotbed for technology advancement and innovation.