Dear AuntMinnie Member,
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That could be the motto for proponents of virtual colonoscopy, who are gearing up for another run at securing Medicare reimbursement for colon cancer screening.
That's according to a presentation from this week's International Symposium on Virtual Colonoscopy in Boston, where international editor Eric Barnes was on hand to report for our Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community.
Virtual colonoscopy suffered a serious setback in May 2009, when Medicare reimbursement for VC colon screening was rejected by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Now, VC's proponents are launching a multipronged campaign to reverse that decision, involving clinical, regulatory, and legal efforts. Get the inside scoop on what's going on by clicking here.
In other news from the Boston meeting, U.K. researchers presented early findings from the Special Interest Group in Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (SIGGAR) studies, a series of trials examining virtual colonoscopy's performance against other cancer screening modalities.
In one study, virtual colonoscopy demonstrated clear superiority to double-contrast barium enema -- hardly a surprising finding. But in another trial, VC demonstrated good performance versus conventional optical colonoscopy in symptomatic patients. Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at vc.auntminnie.com for more news from the world of colon imaging.
Radiation therapy volume grows
Meanwhile, a new market research report has found that while procedure volume in radiation oncology has grown at a double-digit rate, more procedures are being performed by a shrinking number of people. You'll find more details -- as well as other important trends in the radiation oncology industry -- by clicking here, or visit our Radiation Oncology Digital Community at radiation.auntminnie.com.
Virtual conference sign-ups
Finally, more than 1,000 radiology professionals have signed up for PACS in an Age of Change: An AuntMinnie Virtual Conference, scheduled for November 17. Have you? If not, get to pacschange.auntminnie.com. You'll be able to review the agenda for the meeting, and also find out how to win one of the 25 great prizes we're giving away to meeting attendees.
