Sanovas, lung cancer screening, peripheral tumors, PDT, Medicare

Sanovas Inc. announced that one of its clinical advisers is warning that the United States healthcare system faces a shortage of therapeutic resources as Medicare coverage of lung cancer screening for at-risk beneficiaries goes into effect. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and the second-leading cause of all deaths in the United States.
Oncology related products, focused ultrasound therapy, MRI systems

A pioneering clinical trial is testing whether focusing high-frequency sound waves onto the surface of bone where cancer has spread can burn away the source of pain.

In a surprising finding, a collaborative national clinical trials group (RTOG) including Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Alan Hartford, M.D., Ph.D., discovered that radiation therapy in addition to chemotherapy was even more effective at preventing recurrence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) than previously thought. 

Prostate cancer patients with detectable prostate specific antigen (PSA) following radical prostatectomy should receive earlier, more aggressive radiation therapy treatment, according to a study published in the February 1, 2015 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). 

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) commends the February 5, 2015, decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide coverage for annual lung cancer screening via low-dose CT screening for those at highest-risk for lung cancer.

Patients with soft tissue sarcoma of an extremity treated with preoperative image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) experience significantly fewer long-term treatment side effects compared with a historical control group treated with preoperative, non-image-guided radiation therapy (RT), according to results of the RTOG 0630 trial published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Latest Trends in Contrast Media Injectors

There have been several recent advances with contrast media injector technology, including cutting costs by reducing contrast waste and automated data collection for the dose a patient receives. Automated injector systems not only precisely control the amount of contrast used; vendors have moved into the software/IT arena by offering personalized doses for patients using information pulled from an electronic medical record (EMR) or picture archiving and communication system (PACS). Contrast dose recording software also offers new possibilities for radiology departments looking to streamline and document their contrast media usage. Some vendors have now integrated X-ray radiation dose recording capabilities as well. 

Virtual Radiologic (vRad) announced an exclusive partnership agreement with Ver2 Digital Medicine (Ver2), a telemedicine services company based in Dubai. vRad is now the exclusive United States-based provider of remote professional radiology interpretation services for Ver2, which offers an integrated portfolio of digital medicine services, including teleradiology, telepathology, as well as remote patient monitoring and remote medical education.

The Proton Therapy Center (PTC) in Prague has signed contracts with the majority of Czech health insurance companies. These agree on providing a safe, gentle and highly efficient treatment of tumors using proton therapy. For Czech oncology patients, this means a U-turn in the accessibility of treatment by proton beam.

University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine researchers have shown that brain scans can predict which patients with clinical depression are most likely to benefit from a specific kind of talk therapy.

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