A $5.3 million medical malpractice settlement was reached last week in a case that involved a patient with strokelike symptoms and a dispute over whether MRI results were read.

Michael T. Mertz, an attorney for the patient’s family, said the settlement would be paid on behalf of radiologist Mark Kelly, MD, and his practice, Winfield Radiology Consultants in Winfield, Illinois; neurologist … read more »

Is it the economy? Fear of radiation? Loss of health insurance by potential patients? All of the above?

Whatever the cause or causes, this has not been a good year for the high-tech imaging business. The Diagnostic Imaging news service reports that CT and MR imaging volumes are flat or declining across the United States.

The article quotes Tom Cabot, vice president … read more »

Any institution that does perfusion CT scans of the brain should right this minute check the settings on its machines and the training of its technologists. At least eight hospitals, plus manufacturers, regulators, patients, and, of course, lawyers, are complaining, arguing, investigating, and pointing fingers regarding excessive radiation doses during such scans.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that, at … read more »

Diffusion MRI beats CT for diagnosing acute ischemic stroke, according to a new guideline from the American Academy of Neurology published today in the journal Neurology.

CT is the de facto standard for stroke diagnosis. But newer MRI techniques, such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), are more accurate, the article said.

“While CT scans are currently the standard test … read more »

Radiation exposure isn’t the only safety issue that ought to concern radiologists.

Two radiology technicians have sued Bozeman Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman, Montana. They claim that, while working in a darkroom at the hospital, they were exposed to unsafe levels of X-ray film developing chemicals.

Court documents say one of the women began working at the hospital in 2000 and the other … read more »

Someone shows up at the emergency room with chest pain. An initial consultation categorizes the patient as “non-low risk.” Next step: hospital admission for tests and further evaluation, right?

Not so fast, say researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. Instead, their new study suggests placing such patients in an observation unit, monitoring them carefully, and stress testing them with … read more »

Clinicians can often make good guesses as to whether stroke patients are suffering from ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, but no combination of clinical factors is good enough for a definitive diagnosis in all patients. For that, you need imaging.

So conclude two researchers who undertook a systematic review of 19 prospective studies involving 6,438 patients. Shauna Runchey, MD, and Steven McGee, … read more »

Even young, vigorous people may unknowingly suffer small “silent strokes.” Therefore, all stroke patients, including those ages 18 through 50, should get brain MRI to check for such previous damage and guide efforts to prevent recurrence.

So suggests new research from Hospital Notre Dame in Montreal, as presented this week at the Canadian Stroke Congress in Quebec City.

“This study tells us … read more »

Part 2 of 2

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and recent work has determined how child abuse victims might be more easily and better identified. 

HealthImaging.com relates information from the April issue of Radiology and the study by Laura A. Drubach, MD, and her colleagues from the department of radiology at Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. They compared baseline skeletal survey and 18F-NaF PET … read more »

Through the scaled up military efforts in Afghanistan, the American public has become knowledgeable about the now blooming poppies in Kandahar and their pending harvest in June, which may deliver fresh funds to insurgents.

It’s the process from harvest to heroin that more directly affects the US. About three months after the seeds are planted, the petals drop from their bulbous pods, which the … read more »