- Resonance & CARPL.ai’s Platform Partnership: Australia’s Resonance Health announced a new partnership with CARPL.ai, making its FerriSmart (MRI-based liver iron quantification) and HepaFat-AI (MRI-based liver fat volumes) solutions available to CARPL’s global AI platform user base. Resonance Health joins a growing list of AI developers, underscoring CARPL.ai’s role as an AI platform company, in addition to its historical role as an AI development and validation company.
- Mount Sinai’s Mobile PCa Screening: Mount Sinai Health System launched a mobile screening program intended to improve prostate cancer detection in New York City’s Black communities. Mount Sinai’s prostate screening van will perform a range of tests (PSA, digital rectal, genomics, ExactVu micro-ultrasound, and EchoNous bladder scanner), leading to follow-up exams via a separate neighborhood mobile MRI unit and as-needed office visits with MSHS urologists.
- Two Sides to Fracture AI: A new Radiology Journal study review showed that fracture AI tools have consistently matched clinicians, but cautioned that widespread research flaws make it hard to know how these tools would perform in the clinic. Meta-analysis of 42 studies revealed comparable pooled sensitivity (internal data: 92% AI vs. 91% clinicians; external data: 91% AI vs. 94% clinicians) and specificity (internal: 91% AI vs. 92% clinicians; external: 91% AI vs. 94% clinicians). However, 22 of the studies had a high risk of bias, only 13 studies included external validation, and just one study was based on a prospective trial.
- GE & Elekta’s RT Alliance: GE Healthcare and Elekta launched a global alliance, allowing the companies to provide their respective clients with solutions that combine GE’s imaging systems and Elekta’s radiation therapy solutions. The non-exclusive collaboration expands Elekta’s imaging partnerships (it already has a “deep” partnership with Philips), while giving GE and Elekta another way to compete with Siemens/Varian’s increasingly integrated offering.
- Sizing Up CT Dose Settings: MGH researchers proposed using patient T-shirt size categories to guide CT radiation dose settings, suggesting that the method is simple/intuitive for staff and can better represent patients’ actual physique. The researchers analyzed 930K exams to create seven T-shirt size classifications (XXS, XS, S, M, L, XL, and XXL), with dosage ranging from 60% of medium for XXS and 210% of medium for XXL.
- Izotropic’s $2M Placement: Izotropic completed a $2.05M private placement (826k share warrants) that it will use to build its initial IzoView breast CT scanners and support its clinical trial and FDA authorization processes. The IzoView CT leads with its 3D / 360-degree imaging capabilities, which Izotropic claims produces similar image quality as breast MRI (in a 10-second scan) and superior image quality versus mammography and ultrasound.
- Including ROs in Nodule Management: A new JAMA study highlighted the importance of including radiation oncologists in pulmonary nodule management teams. The prospective study included 1,150 patients with pulmonary nodules who were managed by a multidisciplinary team (radiology, thoracic surgery, pulmonology, medical oncology, radiation oncology), finding that 13.8% of the patients underwent surgical resection and 6.7% received radiation therapy. That’s very different compared to the two year period before radiation oncologists joined the panel, when 20% of patients underwent surgery and just 1.5% received radiation therapy.
- Walmart’s Clinic Expansion: Walmart continued its Walmart Health clinic expansion, announcing five new Florida health centers that offer a range of medical services (yes, including imaging) and mark the retailer’s first Epic-integrated locations. Although Walmart’s push into healthcare appears more conservative than its retail and online competitors (e.g. Walgreens or Amazon), it now has at least 20 locations and has been actively building out its healthcare team, partnerships, and strategy.
- CT-FFR’s Pre-TAVR Impact: A new European Radiology study detailed how CCTA-based AI analysis could help avoid unnecessary invasive coronary angiographies (ICA) performed before TAVR procedures. Using data from 95 patients with severe aortic stenosis who underwent pre-TAVR CCTA exams and ICAs, the researchers found that analysis of ML-based CT-FFR measurements and CAD Reporting and Data System classifications (CAD-RADS) could have identified 65 patients who didn’t require ICAs (ICA benchmark = patients with CAD-RADS ≥ 4 — or with CAD-RADS 2/3 and CT-FFR ≤ 0.80).
- Ligence’s Echo AI CE Mark: Lithuanian echocardiography AI startup, Ligence, announced the CE class IIa certification of its Ligence Heart solution, paving the way for the company’s European rollout. Ligence Heart automatically performs functional and morphological cardiac measurements in 2D transthoracic echocardiograms, which they’ve found to be non-inferior to cardiologists’ results and could allow four-times faster reporting times.
- GE & Imeka Neuroimaging Alliance: GE Healthcare will incorporate Imeka’s neuroimaging tech into its BrainWave MRI analysis and visualization solution. Imeka’s software combines diffusion imaging and AI to map white matter integrity, giving BrainWave’s clinical and research users more insights into central nervous system diseases and disorders.
