ACR News

Exercise testing is sensitive for coronary artery disease when ST-segment changes, angina, and hemodynamic variables are considered - but it's still not as sensitive as computed tomographic angiography (CTA), a study from Denmark shows.

In clinically localized prostate cancer, both radical prostatectomy and external beam radiotherapy inhibit metastatic progression, but prostatectomy seems more effective in high-risk patients, researchers report.

Bedside ultrasonography allows acute cholecystitis to be confirmed or ruled out as effectively in the emergency department as in the radiology suite, new research shows.

The ACR recently sent a letter to President Obama urging him to instruct Medicare to provide coverage of CT colonography. The President recently received CTC during his annual medical exam.

The longer women wait for radiotherapy after breast cancer surgery, the greater the risk their disease will come back, scientists said on Wednesday, in a study likely to pressure health services to cut waiting times.

President Barack Obama began a final push for healthcare reform on Wednesday, urging Congress to vote on the plan in the next few weeks even if it means passing the measure with a narrow Democratic majority and no Republican support.

In response to recent publicity on errors in radiation therapy and the increasing technological complexity of the treatment process, AAPM and ASTRO are hosting Safety in Radiation Therapy - A Call to Action, June 24-25, 2010, in Miami, FL.

The Senate voted 78-19 late Tuesday night to pass H.R. 4691, the "Temporary Extension Act of 2010," which includes provisions to extend 2009 Medicare physician payment rates through the end of the month. As a result, the 21 percent payment cut that took effect on March 1 has been postponed until April 1.

While capsule endoscopy can improve the diagnosis of obscure gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, this does not seem to translate into better outcomes, according to a report in Gastroenterology published online on February 4.

Prophylactic mastectomy is highly effective in preventing invasive breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, Dutch researchers report in the March issue of the Annals of Surgery.

A new battery-operated compression device is at least as effective as low-molecular weight heparin in preventing venous thromboembolism (VTE) after hip arthroplasty, but with a lower risk of major bleeding, new research suggests.

New imaging technology suggests an experimental drug for Alzheimer's reduces clumps of plaque in the brain by approximately 25%, giving potential new life to a medicine that disappointed in clinical tests two years ago.

Some U.S. states have begun using controversial new breast cancer screening guidelines to stop offering routine mammograms for uninsured women in their 40s, a survey by the Avon Foundation for Women released on Monday found.

President Obama, in his first routine physical exam as commander in chief, received a CT colonography, commonly known as a virtual colonoscopy, to screen him for colorectal cancer. However, Obama Administration officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services previously denied coverage of the same exam for seniors enrolled in Medicare.

From 1996 to 2008, there has been a steady decline in the hours worked per week by physicians in the US, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association for February 10.

Most patients with Williams syndrome do not require intervention for cardiovascular abnormalities, and their risk for premature mortality is low, according to a report online in the February 8th American Journal of Cardiology.

At a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing titled Medical Radiation: An Overview of the Issues, E. Stephen Amis, MD, FACR, chair of the ACR Task Force on Radiation Dose in Medicine, urged Congress to require accreditation of all facilities which bill Medicare for advanced medical imaging and radiation oncology services, including those in hospitals, to reduce the likelihood of adverse patient events and help assure a baseline quality of care nationwide.

E. Stephen Amis, MD, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology Task Force on Radiation Dose in Medicine, will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on February 26 regarding radiation dose delivered by medical imaging exams and radiation oncology procedures.

The American College of Radiology has launched an online nuclear medicine and positron emission tomography (PET) accreditation application program that streamlines the process and significantly reduces the time it takes for nuclear medicine and PET facilities to become accredited.

A recent Avon Foundation for Women survey confirms what the American College of Radiology and other experts warned would happen: states are using deeply flawed and widely discredited U.S. Preventative Services Task Force mammography recommendations to deny women coverage for mammograms, and many women are foregoing long proven, life-saving mammography care based on the mistaken USPSTF recommendations.