Dear AuntMinnie Member,
New research published this month lands a bombshell in the debate over the safety of echocardiography contrast media. A multicenter study of more than 42,000 patients concludes that there is no difference in death rate or myocardial infarction between those patients who received echo contrast and those who did not.
As reported by staff writer Eric Barnes in our Cardiac Imaging Digital Community, researchers from three U.S. institutions compared morbidity and mortality between the two groups of patients from 1999 to 2007. They found negligible differences between the groups, and published their results in the January Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
As you may know, echo contrast agents have been subject to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) black box warning since 2007, following reports of deaths occurring after contrast administration. In this month's paper, however, the authors speculate that there is no causal relationship between echo contrast and the deaths.
Could the new study prompt the FDA to eliminate the black box warning? Will the paper lead to renewed use of echo contrast, which has slumped since the warning was issued? We can't predict the future, but we can point you to the story, which you'll find by clicking here.
While we're on the subject of busting myths, take a look at this article that examines whether the Framingham risk index is truly an accurate predictor of atherosclerotic plaque burden. Cardiac imaging expert Dr. David Dowe weighs in on the subject, comparing Framingham risk scores to plaque burden as detected by coronary CT angiography.
View these articles and more in the Cardiac Imaging Digital Community at cardiac.auntminnie.com.
CMS to expand PET payments
In other news, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday announced a proposal for expanding federal reimbursement for PET exams of patients with several different types of tumors. The move is the culmination of a long campaign to prompt the notoriously stingy agency to open the purse strings for PET. Read more by clicking here, or visit the Molecular Imaging Digital Community at molecular.auntminnie.com.
