A new study by The Moran Company, a Washington-based healthcare research and consulting firm, reports that under the Deficit Reduction Act 2005 (DRA) medical imaging reimbursement rates would fall below the estimated costs of performing 90 percent of the medical imaging procedures in physician offices and independent imaging centers.
The report indicates that 145 imaging procedures within the aforementioned 90 percent include cardiac MRI; CT bone density, axial; acute venous thrombus image; tumor imaging 3-D; and ultrasound and pelvic exams.

Imaging Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (IDSI), a company specializing in laser optical breast imaging, has signed three exclusive distributors and added five countries to its global distribution network. Able Global, Mayerick and HAWA Imaging will distribute the company’s breast cancer detection products across Malaysia, Mexico, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. These additions will increase market awareness of the new CT Laser Mammography (CTLM) technology for women in the regions.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA are attempting to change the perception that MRI systems are large, noisy, stationary machines that can come at extreme cost to the patient. They have developed a laser-based MRI modality that would make the technology portable, quiet and cheaper.

The first facility in Arizona to offer a noninvasive procedure for the treatment of a patient's symptomatic uterine tumors is scheduled to open mid October. ExAblate of Phoenix LLC will be available to local gynecologists to perform the nonsurgical treatment of uterine fibroids. The non-invasive procedure uses the ExAblate 2000 system, which received US FDA approval in October 2004.

Varian Medical Systems has made image-guided radiotherapy treatments (IGRT) available to cancer patients at university hospital Leuven in Belgium using the company’s equipment.