AV can bring efficiency, savings, quality
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| Beth Walsh, Editor, CMIO |
For example, an automated lung nodule matching program can improve radiologists’ efficiency almost two-fold, according to a study published in the July issue of American Journal of Roentgenology.
Serial CT assessment and comparison of pulmonary nodules has been a manual, time-consuming process. The advent of automated lung nodule matching software may offer a new model to improve diagnostic performance and efficiency.
In the study, four thoracic radiologists manually identified and matched 325 pulmonary nodules identified on CT and six weeks later evaluated the same CT studies using the automated nodule matching software. The time required for manual nodule matching ranged from one second to approximately 11.4 minutes, whereas automated nodule matching ranged from less than one second to approximately 6.6 minutes.
The software provided high accuracy and delivered match rates of 90 percent for two readers and 79 percent and 92 percent for the remaining two radiologists.
Another study, published in Radiology, found that MRI utilizing ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) particles in combination with the current standard of a gadolinium-based contrast agent enabled detection of more than 50 percent more multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions than imaging with gadolinium alone.
Enhancement with a gadolinium-based contrast agent is the primary sign of MS disease activity, and it indicates accumulation of the agent due to increased blood-brain barrier permeability. This approach, however, is nonspecific and lacks sensitivity.
To test the benefit of USPIO-enhanced MR exams, the researchers studied 24 patients with MS using gadolinium- and USPIO-enhanced MRI at baseline and six-month follow-up. Results showed that 37 lesions were considered active owing to gadolinium-based enhancement at baseline. The addition of USPIO helped detect 19 additional lesions, a 51 percent increase compared with gadolinium alone.
I find these kinds of results so encouraging—anything to help clinicians find the full problem and do so more quickly is a wonderful step in the right direction. Are your clinicians and IT teams prepared to integrate these practices and software?
Beth Walsh
CMIO Editor
bwalsh@trimedmedia.com
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.