Dear Digital X-Ray Insider,
Recent studies indicate more than 15% of patients in primary care and about 25% in emergency care receive imaging referrals for lower back pain. Efforts are ongoing to reduce these numbers. In this edition's Insider Exclusive, we bring you a study suggesting lumbar spine x-rays provide limited value for decision-making regarding back pain management.
Chest x-ray and other digital imaging modalities continue to lend themselves well to artificial intelligence (AI) applications, especially in efforts to fight COVID-19, as seen in our coverage of advances in the field listed below:
- Researchers used chest x-rays from 2,943 seriously ill patients at NYU Langone Health to develop an AI model that may help triage patients.
- An AI algorithm was trained to achieve expert physician-level performance when diagnosing acute respiratory distress syndrome on chest x-rays.
- A deep-learning algorithm designed to read dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry images may help predict cardiovascular disease.
- An AI algorithm was able to accurately detect scaphoid fractures on radiographs, potentially speeding up diagnosis of these troublesome injuries.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, chest x-ray continues to play a major role as a first-line triage tool for patients, as noted in the following stories:
- A new chest x-ray technique of imaging patients through glass produced diagnostic-quality radiographs while reducing hospital costs and infection risk.
- During the 2021 virtual annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society, Louisiana researchers reported chest x-rays are very effective for the early detection of COVID-19 in older patients.
The World Health Organization reinforced the importance of battling other worldwide infectious diseases. The organization updated its recommendations for tuberculosis screening to now include the use of computer-aided detection applications in chest radiography.
Finally, in old news (pun intended), the use of x-ray technology to unlock secrets of the past was on point as investigators at a Polish national museum discovered that a 3,000-year-old mummified woman was pregnant, while London researchers used an x-ray scanner to virtually unfold and read a sealed letter from the Renaissance.
Be sure to check back often for more news in your Digital X-Ray Community!
