CT radiation dose as low as 3 percent of the current standard may be sufficient for follow-up monitoring of lung nodules, according to study findings published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

DePuy Orthopaedics has received FDA 510(k) clearance for the use of Trumatch Personalized Solutions, a surgical instrumentation and computer software system, with the companys Sigma Fixed-Bearing Knee System.

NEC Display Solution of America received FDA 510(k) clearance for its 21.3-inch Multi-Sync MD215MG medical diagnostic display for use in digital mammography.

How will clinical engineering adjust as healthcare reform pushes more clinical equipment outside hospital settings and into nontraditional, non-acute care facilitiesincluding homes? Thats one of the questions Barry L. Graf will ask attendees to contemplate at the second annual conference of the Clinical Engineering Association of Illinois in Oak Brook, Ill., Aug. 24 and 25, where he will be one of four presenters in a panel discussion on healthcare reform.

As facilities race to meet meaningful use compliance deadlines, operating rooms will need to overhaul paper-based systems and consider adding an anesthesia information management system (AIMS). Linking the AIMS to disparate systems within the hospital will be no easy feat. The best advice from veterans? Get started now, as an AIMS can gather data and run reports for benchmarking purposes, improve patient records and potentially boost patient safety and revenues.

While the developing technology is expensive, KLAS, the Orem, Utah-based research firm, found that providers utilizing PET/CT imaging technology save time and improve image resolution, based on a survey of providers. However, GE Healthcare edged out Philips and Siemens in KLAS first report on PET/CT vendors, titled PET/CT 2011: New Technologies in Focus.

Johns Hopkins biomedical graduate students may end up taking specific courses on key biological processesgene expression, metabolism, cell fate and functionif the university decides to change its structure for the first time in 30 years, a move two education leaders advocate in a commentary scheduled for publication in the Aug. 19 issue of Cell.

When examining how to better manage the processes and advanced imaging data across a healthcare enterprise, administrators are going to have to take a business savvy approach to their practices, said presenters at this weeks AHRA conference in Dallas.