PET brings findings to light
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| Mary Stevens, Editor, CMIO magazine |
A study using positron emission tomography (PET) found significant increases in the beta-amyloid uptake of florbetapir F18. “Using positron emission tomography (PET) to image fibrillar amyloid has begun to have transformational effects on the scientific study, early detection and tracking of Alzheimer’s disease and on the evaluation of amyloid-modifying treatments,” wrote Adam S. Fleisher, MD, of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, and co-authors in an article published July 11 in the Archives of Neurology.
A second study published in the June issue of Archives of Neurology, also based on PET imaging, found that individuals with Down syndrome appear to show age-related increases in amyloid plaques and tau neurofibrillary tangles that mirror the increases in Alzheimer’s patients. “Given the considerable challenges in diagnosing dementia in people with Down syndrome using cognitive and behavioral measures, neuroimaging may offer added clinical value,” concluded Linda D. Nelson, PhD, and co-authors from the University of California, Los Angeles.
As more advanced images and analyses enter the care stream, managing image storage and workflow will pose new challenges for an increasing number of organizations. On the vendor side of advanced visualization, there were several announcements that highlighted efforts to keep ahead of these challenges:
- Agfa and TeraRecon have joined forces to combine Agfa’s Impax 6 PACS unified image and information management workflow capabilities with TeraRecon’s iNtuition advanced image processing technology.
- Baptist Health System of Alabama and Henry Ford Health System of Michigan are piloting AT&T’s cloud-based medical imaging and information management service, which will connect doctors to patients’ medical images. The system allows healthcare providers to store, access, view and share patient medical images and information over a secure infrastructure. The cloud service is offered on a pay-as-you-go basis, where healthcare providers pay based on the gigabytes of information transferred per month, according to AT&T.
- Medicsight has entered into an agreement with Ziosoft to integrate Medicsight’s ColonCAD software and Ziosoft’s Ziostation visualization and analytics technology to assist radiologists during review of CT colonography images.
How does your organization handle the demands of advanced visualization? Is it outsourced to a third party or is it a service provided to other providers? Maybe both? Let me know at mstevens@trimedmedia.com.
Mary Stevens, Editor