Dear AuntMinnie Member,
In breaking news this week, Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) has reported that the nuclear reactor that produces much of North America's supply of the widely used molybdenum radiotracer may be shut down for a month. The shutdown could lead to shortages of technetium-99m, which is made from molybdenum and is the most widely used radiopharmaceutical in medical imaging. Get the details by clicking here.
Thorelius returns
After a two-year hiatus, Dr. Lars Thorelius is back with a new multimedia article in our Ultrasound Digital Community on the use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for focal liver lesions.
Dr. Thorelius' articles offer a comprehensive mix of in-depth text discussion and high-quality video to illustrate key concepts. His current story shows how CEUS gives ultrasound practitioners the ability to use the modality to characterize focal liver lesions without sending patients on to CT or MRI.
But CEUS is woefully underutilized, Dr. Thorelius believes, especially in the U.S., which hasn't taken to ultrasound contrast in the same way as Europe. Learn more by clicking here.
In other news in the community, find out how medical teams in the Antarctic are learning to use 3D ultrasound to help diagnose sick and injured colleagues without professional medical staff on site. Get these stories -- as well as onsite coverage from the Leading Edge conference later this week -- by going to ultrasound.auntminnie.com.
Radiation dose in the obese
Meanwhile, new research indicates that obese patients may be getting a higher radiation dose than previously thought from radiography and fluoroscopy exams. At issue is Reference Man, a widely used phantom for determining radiation dose that's based on the body habitus of the average male -- from several decades ago.
As we all know, men (and women) today are much heavier than our forebears, and that could be throwing off radiation dose estimates by a wide margin. Find out how much by clicking here, or visit our Digital X-Ray Community at xray.auntminnie.com.
