Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Alzheimer's is a dreaded disease, but progress is being made to detect it in its earliest stages. Today in our Molecular Imaging Digital Community, we bring you a new study that shows how PET imaging with a novel radiotracer could provide early indications of who may develop Alzheimer's -- before symptoms occur.
Australian researchers found that PET with carbon-11-labeled Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB) can detect high levels of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain -- an already established marker for Alzheimer's risk. What's more, beta-amyloid plaque on PiB-PET scans appears to be a more accurate prognostic tool than genetic risk factors.
Read more by clicking here, or visit the Molecular Imaging Digital Community at molecular.auntminnie.com.
QA for rad therapy
Sometimes the best way to learn is from your own mistakes. That seems to be the lesson from a new study we're highlighting in our Radiation Oncology Digital Community from researchers in Canada.
The team implemented a quality assurance program in 2007 that was designed to help the radiation oncology department learn from incidents that occurred during treatment. Over five years and in the process of treating nearly 350,000 patients, they've been able to reduce their rate of incidents to less than 1%.
But they believe it's still better to have some incidents being reported than none at all. Find out why by clicking here, or visit the community at radiation.auntminnie.com.
History of black lung screening
Finally, radiology historian Otha Linton is back this week with the latest installment in his fascinating series on the history of medical imaging.
Mr. Linton's topic this week is the U.S. program to screen coal miners for signs of black lung disease, or pneumoconiosis. The program was initiated through congressional action, and radiology was involved from the earliest stages in designing and implementing the program.
The article is particularly relevant given the current focus on the pneumoconiosis screening program, which has become something of a political football in this year's election season. Read more by clicking here, or visit the Digital X-Ray Community at xray.auntminnie.com.
