- AI Needs Complementary Innovations: The Brookings Institution added to 2022’s growing list of editorials about “what healthcare AI needs,” suggesting that AI will require a series of “complementary innovations” to achieve widespread adoption. Looking back at previous medtech adoption milestones (e.g. EMRs needed software integration innovations), the authors argued that widespread AI adoption will require innovations targeting algorithm acceptance/performance (adding trust and interpretability), training data availability (easier collection), easing regulatory barriers (new regulations for privacy, approval, liability, data ownership), and decisionmaker incentive alignment (no specific suggestions).
- Siemens & Cerebriu’s Brain MR Alliance: Siemens Healthineers and Danish AI startup Cerebriu announced an R&D partnership and future plans to integrate Cerebriu’s Smart Protocol for Brain software with Siemens’ MRI systems. The Cerebriu software adapts MRI scanning protocols during image acquisition, making adjustments that support personalized imaging, differential diagnosis, and scanning efficiency.
- Cancer Research Inequalities: A new Clinical Imaging study revealed that the volume of imaging research focused on certain cancers can be far higher or lower than their incidence and mortality rates would suggest. Analysis of 620 cancer imaging studies showed that central nervous system and liver cancers might be overinvestigated (publication-to-incidence ratio >2), whereas nonmelanoma of the skin, leukemia, stomach cancer, and laryngeal cancer appear underinvestigated (publication-to-incidence ratio <0.2).
- Intelerad’s Enterprise Suite: After several years of ambitious acquisitions, Intelerad Medical Systems is bringing its acquired technologies together in its new Enterprise Imaging and Informatics Suite. The new Enterprise Suite gives hospitals and health systems an integrated system that combines Intelerad’s IntelePACS with the Clario SmartWorklist vendor-neutral worklist, an Enterprise VNA, and the Ambra Image Exchange. The Enterprise Suite can also integrate with Intelerad’s Cardiovascular Suite (w/ CVIS and CV tech from Digisonics, HeartIT, and LUMEDX,) and its Life Sciences Suite.
- Sonosite vs. Butterfly: Fujifilm Sonosite filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Butterfly Network, alleging that the Butterfly iQ/iQ+ handheld ultrasound systems infringe on seven Fujifilm patents related to point of care ultrasound acquisition (e.g. using a probe w/ a mobile device, graphical interface elements, image processing).
- Brain MRI Unnecessary For NSCLC: A new Radiology Journal study suggests that performing brain MRI in asymptomatic patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has no impact on survival and is likely unnecessary. The study looked at 628 patients from 2009-2016, of which 53% received a staging brain MRI. The brain MRI exams did not appear to have prognostic benefits for brain metastasis-free survival, time to brain metastasis, or overall survival.
- Medimaps’ TBS Codes: Medimaps announced CMS’s addition of new codes for DXA and X-ray-based Trabecular Bone Score assessments ($41.53 w/ PFS, $82.61 w/ HOPPS). The new codes could have quite an impact on TBS procedure volumes (currently 600k in the US annually), perhaps explaining why Medimaps recently raised $20M to fund an upcoming commercial expansion.
- Pediatric Radiation Reductions: A new Insights into Imaging study detailed a Brazilian pediatric radiation reduction campaign that cut imaging referrals by 25% across 19 healthcare facilities. The campaign (launched in 2016) involved forming a radiological protection committee, distributing educational materials (banners, folders, videos) and referral guidelines, and creating personal dose cards for each patient.
- Clarius’ New Funding & Leaders: Clarius Mobile Health is heading into spring 2022 with a new leadership team, $20M in new funding (total now $45M), and a reinforced global commercialization strategy. The handheld ultrasound startup named imaging veteran Ohad Arazi as its new president and future CEO (formerly of Zebra-Med, TELUS, and Change/McKesson), while appointing Don Listwin as Board Chair (formerly Rapid AI CEO), and transitioning founder Laurent Pelissier from CEO to Chief Innovation Officer.
- MRI Claustrophobia: A new UK-based study revealed that nearly 1% of patients are unable to complete MRI exams due to anxiety or claustrophobia (0.8%, n= 678k exams), although factors such as demographics and scanner type play an important role. Female patients were 25% more likely to end scans early due to claustrophobia, while patients between 45-64 years of age were 25% more likely than the average patient to end scans early. The majority of scans were performed on conventional systems, but patients undergoing Open MRI scans were 3x more likely to fail a scan and patients receiving UpRight scans were half as likely to fail.
- RefleXion Adds $80M: RefleXion Medical added another $80M in equity financing to its massive fundraising total (now at least $445M) as it continues to scale its biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) system to new cancer types and stages. The BgRT system combines FDG PET with an integrated linear accelerator radiotherapy system, which could potentially allow it to target all visible cancers simultaneously (vs. one or two).
