Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Teleradiology's most persistent gadfly -- Dr. David C. Levin -- takes aim at the industry once again in a story we're featuring this week in our Imaging Leaders Digital Community.
Dr. Levin has made no secret of his antipathy toward teleradiology, which he believes is a serious threat to radiologists and traditional radiology groups. After initially helping radiology groups with overnight call, many teleradiology firms are now competing with groups directly by signing contracts with hospitals that cut out traditional providers.
But Dr. Levin sees many reasons why healthcare -- and hospitals -- still need traditional radiology groups. He offers suggestions on how groups can fight back and preserve their contracts with hospitals. Read more by clicking here, or visit the community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
3D fusion software
In other news, Dutch researchers are reporting their experiences with a 3D software application that fuses data from functional and anatomical modalities into a single reconstructed image.
Called synchronized multimodal heart visualization (SMARTVis), the software is designed to give physicians a one-stop shop for assessing coronary stenosis. The idea is that a single reconstructed 3D image will be easier to interpret than separate images viewed side by side.
Learn more about the software by clicking here, or visit our Molecular Imaging Digital Community at molecular.auntminnie.com.
Coronary CTA's power
Finally, in our Middle East Digital Community we're highlighting work from Egyptian researchers on the power of negative coronary CT angiography (CTA) scans.
A research group decided to perform the study after observing that patients with chest pain were still being held in the hospital for nearly 24 hours despite having normal lab work. These patients would go on to have additional imaging tests such as echocardiography or nuclear scintigraphy.
What if these patients got a CT angiography scan instead? Could those with normal studies be discharged immediately? Find out by clicking here, or visit the Middle East Digital Community at me.auntminnie.com.
