Dear AuntMinnie Member,
While the expected U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Obama administration's 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was delayed until Thursday, there are still some legislative developments to be aware of, especially if you're a radiologist in California.
The California Radiation Protection Act, which requires that physicians report excessive dose to the California Department of Public Health, will take effect on July 1. But a fix-up bill intended to modify some of the act's unwieldy provisions is generating controversy of its own.
Despite lobbying efforts from the California Radiological Society, the fix-up bill has not clarified language that's been interpreted as requiring reporting of dose on both the radiology report and in the medical record. International editor Eric Barnes has comprehensive coverage of the bill; click here to learn more.
In other CT-related news, a Danish research team recently determined that incidental findings at low-dose CT lung cancer screening increased the overall yield of malignancies from annual exams of high-risk, asymptomatic patients. However, the additional diagnoses did increase expenses for these programs. To find out by how much, click here or visit the CT Digital Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
Integrating CT lung CAD in PACS
Use of CT lung computer-aided detection (CAD) software has been limited to date by the traditional requirement for radiologists to use a separate workstation. However, researchers have found that integrating CAD technology into PACS workstation software can increase radiologist sensitivity for detecting lung nodules on thoracic CT exams, with a minimal effect on interpretation time but an increase in false-positive findings.
Will this type of integration lead to wider adoption of CT lung CAD? Time will tell, but in the meantime, you can see what the study team found by clicking here or by visiting our Advanced Visualization Digital Community at av.auntminnie.com.
