The issue of ionizing radiation in medical imaging is often discussed and is a hotly debated topic. Computed tomography (CT) is the major contributor to medical radiation dose exposure and has been vilified in lay and professional press as a danger to those exposed, potentially carcinogenic and most dangerous in children. As a pediatric radiologist, my primary concern is in producing high-quality diagnostic images with radiation dose as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).


Injured soldiers returning from combat now have access to more advanced magnetic resonance (MR) technology with Toshiba’s Vantage TitanTM 3T MR. Winn Army Community Hospital in Fort Stewart, Ga., installed the system for general, musculoskeletal and body imaging. This acquisition marks the 1,600th Vantage MR installed worldwide and the 500th installed in the U.S.


Hodgkin lymphoma survivors who received certain radiation and chemotherapy regimens were at increased risk of subsequently developing stomach cancer, according to a study by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. The study appeared Aug. 26, 2013, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.


Experts have found that radiation dosage can have serious complications for patients with cancer. Cancer patients who receive chest radiation should be evaluated for heart disease before beginning radiation, and every five to 10 years afterward, according to the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and the European Assn. of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). This expert consensus statement on the use of imaging to detect radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) will be published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography (JASE). The writing group was co-chaired by Vuyisile Nkomo, M.D., an echocardiographer from the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.


August 28, 2013 — VuComp Inc. announced it has installed its advanced computer-aided detection (CAD) system, M-Vu CAD, at Allison Breast Center in Richmond, Va.  Women in the region will have access to the world’s most advanced tools to help detect breast cancer as early as possible in order to achieve the best outcomes. VuComp’s M-Vu system analyzes mammographic images and marks suspicious areas using sophisticated mathematical algorithms.

August 28, 2013 — Sorna Corp. released the SDS (Secure DICOM Share), a new and innovative feature of the eXpedo software suite. eXpedo with SDS enables healthcare facilities to send DICOM (digital imaging and communications in medicine) studies and reports directly from one site to another through eXpedo, utilizing the DICOM TLS Secure Transport Connection Profile.

August 28, 2013 — Medical software developer Blackford Analysis announced that picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) integrated with its automatic alignment technology deliver significant time savings when matching lung nodule locations across current and prior chest computed tomography (CT) exams. Preliminary results indicate a time saving of greater than 50 percent with automatic deformable alignment over manual alignment of current and priors.

Nucletron, an Elekta company, has signed an agreement with the American Brachytherapy Society (ABS) to continue to support the implementation of a residency-level training program in brachytherapy for radiation oncologists and physicists from the United States and other countries.

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