Dear AuntMinnie Member,
How well does the iPad stack up against conventional medical displays for reviewing images? It's a question that's received a lot of attention, and we're revisiting it again in our PACS Digital Community.
Researchers from Japan put a first-generation iPad through its paces against medical-grade displays calibrated to two different standards. The group had radiologists identify CT scans of cerebral infarction with all three methods.
The results were a mixed bag, with the iPad inferior to one of the calibration approaches but not statistically different from the other. Interestingly, the researchers found that more-experienced readers seemed better able to compensate for the iPad, producing better diagnostic scores. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our PACS Digital Community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
Confusion over radiation risk
Should radiologists consider a patient's history of exposure to radiation when assessing whether he or she should get future radiation-based imaging exams? Perhaps not, according to a new study we're highlighting in our Imaging Leaders Digital Community.
Finding better ways to track patient dose history is a major component of the current debate over controlling exposure to medical radiation. But a research group from Massachusetts General Hospital believes that when evaluating the risk-benefit ratio of a radiation-bearing imaging test, only the test under consideration should be included in the equation, not past studies.
That's because of the linear no-threshold model of radiation risk, which states that a new exposure to radiation has the same risk to a patient regardless of the number of past exposures. Do you agree? Read the article by clicking here, and decide for yourself.
Contrast and radiation dose
Finally, an article in our CT Digital Community provides some interesting insight into the relationship between the use of contrast and radiation dose absorbed by organs during CT exams.
Italian researchers found that when contrast was used in CT procedures, the level of radiation absorbed by organs rose significantly. Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at ct.auntminnie.com.
