Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Hopes that Medicare would soon begin paying for CT colonography (CTC) exams were dashed today when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) declined to include the exam in its update of guidelines for colon cancer screening.
USPSTF released guidelines for colon screening that largely hewed to the group's previous guidance, which recommends traditional colon screening techniques such as optical colonoscopy, fecal immunochemical testing (FIT), and flexible sigmoidoscopy. The task force left both CT colonography and Cologuard stool DNA testing (FIT-DNA) off the list of recommended tests, saying there still isn't enough research on CTC's effects on cancer incidence, morbidity, mortality, and other factors.
That might come as news to backers of CT colonography, who have spent the past seven years -- since 2008, the last time USPSTF rejected CTC -- trying to make the case for the exam. It's now back to the drawing board for CTC proponents.
Read more by clicking here, or visit our CT Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
SNMMI rejects training plan
A proposed plan that would have eliminated the separate board training and certification track for nuclear medicine physicians has been rejected by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) after a survey of its members found lukewarm support for the idea.
The society had proposed eliminating the separate credentialing track for nuclear medicine physicians, in response to reports that these trainees were having difficulty finding jobs. The proposal would have folded the separate nuclear medicine training track into a broader program operated by the American Board of Radiology.
But in a recent poll of SNMMI members, only 29% of nuclear medicine physicians supported the idea, while only 31% of technologists liked it. Most likely SNMMI will have to go back to the drawing board to figure out ways to improve job prospects for its trainees. Read more about it by clicking here.
While you're in our Molecular Imaging Community, be sure to check out this story on a company that's developing a process for producing technetium-99m without the need for uranium. You'll find this story and more at molecular.auntminnie.com.
The end of arrows?
Finally, be sure to visit our AuntMinnieEurope sister site for an intriguing editorial that suggests placing electronic arrows on CT scans to highlight areas of interest for referring physicians could be overused. Is this a radical idea? Before you pass judgment, read the article by clicking here.
