Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Researchers are making progress in finding new tools to detect Alzheimer's disease, and this week in our Molecular Imaging Digital Community we bring you the latest news on two promising new PET radiopharmaceuticals: flutemetamol and florbetapir.
In two separate studies in this week's edition of Archives of Neurology, researchers describe their work using the agents to find early signs of beta-amyloid plaque, which has been associated with the development of Alzheimer's. Currently, beta amyloid is typically identified from sample tissue taken from Alzheimer's patients after they've died.
Although the studies used different metrics to measure effectiveness, both found correlations between levels of beta amyloid as detected with PET and existing techniques for assessing Alzheimer's pathology. Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at molecular.auntminnie.com.
Telerad 'ghosting' conviction
In other news, late last week U.S. government prosecutors secured a conviction in a high-profile case against the chief executive of a teleradiology firm accused of "ghosting," or signing off on radiology reports without reading images.
Dr. Rajashakher Reddy was convicted on 29 counts of fraud on July 7 by a federal district court jury, which found that he had committed fraud against hospitals by signing tens of thousands of radiology reports without viewing many of the x-ray exams, CT scans, and mammograms with which they were associated.
Is this the case of a single rogue firm, or the tip of the iceberg? Learn more about the case by clicking here, or visit our PACS Digital Community at pacs.auntminnie.com.
Colon screening
Finally, read about new research on screening and mortality rates for colorectal cancer in the U.S.
A new study found that mortality rates from the disease are dropping more quickly in areas of the country where screening compliance is the highest. Meanwhile, states that have lower screening rates are seeing mortality drop more slowly -- or not at all in a couple of cases.
Learn more by clicking here, or visit our Virtual Colonoscopy Digital Community at vc.auntminnie.com.
