Fighting cancer is serious business. Not only for the patient, of course, but also for the clinicians who typically must satisfy the patient’s needs while balancing the technology to which they have immediate access with the latest technology available in the market. It represents an ongoing struggle fueled by payer reimbursement cutbacks, budgetary squeezings and expense explosions.

High-dose breast brachytherapy is but a blip on the century-old timeline of brachytherapy milestones in modern medicine. Yet in just the five years since its introduction in the U.S., it is showing significant promise not only as a viable alternative to mastectomy, but may one day rival whole breast external irradiation in the fight against early stage breast cancer.

When you hear a name like The Emory Clinic Department of Radiation Oncology you undoubtedly conjure up visions of a top-notch, well-equipped outpatient cancer treatment center funded by generous private, public and collegiate benefactors that offset payer reimbursement woes.

OSAKA – Breast CAD schemes that hunt for masses and clustered microcalcifications have improved substantially in recent years, and their widespread adoption in the clinical setting is a testament to their growing popularity.
But some researchers think CAD could be a lot better, and potentially find cancers sooner, if more breast CAD systems also looked for architectural distortion – irregularities in the parenchymal pattern on mammograms without the presence of a visible central mass.

The rapid advances in breast imaging techniques are making radiologists more accurate in diagnosing breast cancers and aiding surgeons in providing the best treatment options for patients. In fact, “seeing more” is forcing radiologists and surgeons to biopsy an increasing number of multiple lesions that ultimately lead to a more definitive diagnosis – and they are accomplishing the biopsies faster than the time it takes to perform stereotactic X-ray procedures.

Medical technology leasing is critical to hospitals and healthcare systems’ ability to compete or – even more simply – exist. Leasing has become the preferred strategy for organizations that can’t absorb the outright costs of expensive technology but need to continuously upgrade equipment to meet patients’ needs.

Women who visit the Elizabeth Jekot, M.D. Breast Imaging Center in Richardson, TX, get more than excellent healthcare and expert medical attention; they walk into an environment that was conceived and designed to be a soothing and compassionate place. “We wanted to create a very warm, loving center,” said Elizabeth Jekot, M.D., founder and medical director, “a patient-centered, love-based practice, in a soft, nonthreatening environment.”

With just 25 beds and seven attending physicians, tiny Ellenville Regional Hospital lives large in its upper New York state rural community, combining cutting-edge procedures and technologies for high-quality medical care. Local residents look to the independent critical access hospital for services ranging from radiology and emergency care, to physical therapy and cardiology as well as to provide a gateway to larger, specialized facilities.


What is Ziehm's mission in the U.S. market?
Strobel: In imaging, with our competitors, we are a little bit smaller in size. We are a technology-driven company, so that means we try to be innovative, and we deliver new products and new solutions in a short rate. What we need for that is market perceptiveness. Many people come here to learn about the latest medical advancements. We are able to identify trends and convert them within our innovative engineering company so that we have new products ready to go.

What impact will this newest fusion modality — PET/MR — have on imaging and the industry?
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