Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and David Blumenthal, MD, the head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, announced today that about $1.2 billion in grants are being made available to promote the use of EHRs.

In vivo MRI results demonstrate that mesenchymal stem cells migrate toward a quinolinic acid lesion and can survive for 19 days post-transplantation, which gives hope for future research harnessing stem cells for treating neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, according to research in this months issue of Stem Cells.

Fast spin-echo sequence (FSE)-Cube has similar diagnostic performance as a routine MR imaging protocol for detecting cartilage lesions, cruciate ligament tears, collateral ligament tears, meniscal tears and bone marrow edema lesions within the knee joint at 3T, according to a prospective review in this months issue of Radiology.

The British Heart Foundation Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre at Glasgow University in Scotland has ordered a Magnetom Verio 3T MRI scanner from Siemens Healthcare.

Computer-aided kinetic information can help significantly in distinguishing benign from malignant suspicious breast lesions on MRI, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. These findings support the American College of Radiology (ACR) BI-RADS Breast MRI Lexicon recommendation to report the worst looking kinetic curve.

Wayne State University in Detroit has received nearly $18 million in research grants under the federal governments American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 program.

The FDA has granted IRadimed 510(k) clearance of its MRidium 3860+MRI infusion system with integrated Masimo Set SpO2 monitoring.

Research published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons challenges the routine use of MRI as a means to improve surgical outcomes in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Investigators found that women diagnosed with breast cancer who received an MRI were more likely to undergo a mastectomy than breast conserving therapy, and may face delays in treatment.