Dear AuntMinnie Member,
With echoes of last night's first U.S. presidential debate still reverberating, we thought this would be a good time to examine the 2012 election and its potential impact on radiology.
We all know that healthcare has emerged as a major point of contention during the election, due to President Barack Obama's controversial healthcare reform law. As we've discussed in this space recently, its implementation could have major ramifications for radiology as some of its provisions go into effect next year.
But Republican challenger Mitt Romney has promised to make the repeal of healthcare reform one of his first priorities, offering hope to many in radiology who oppose the law that it could be short-circuited before its greatest impact becomes felt.
Although the contest between Obama and Romney is attracting the most attention, the outcome of congressional races will greatly shape what the winner at the top of the ticket can ultimately do. Learn more about the election's potential impact on radiology by clicking here, or visit our Imaging Leaders Digital Community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Stroke diagnosis with an iPhone
As anyone who deals with stroke patients knows, time is brain. If healthcare providers can deliver therapy more quickly, they have the potential to save lives and reduce the devastating damage that a stroke can wreak.
To that end, technology can help -- specifically, smartphone technology. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Arizona tested a commercially available app running on an iPhone 4 that enables physicians to view clinical images, and compared the software to radiologists working off PACS workstations with diagnostic monitors.
The researchers found good agreement between interpretations made off the iPhones and those rendered with the PACS workstations. Learn more about how they did it by clicking here for an article in our PACS Digital Community.
In other news, learn about which method was best for assessing tumor volumes quantitatively on PET/CT scans by clicking here for an article in our Molecular Imaging Digital Community, or discover how Michigan researchers set up a real-time system for quality assurance in radiation therapy by clicking here.
