Rizwan Malik, MBBS in response to a post forecasting that physicians will become technology-focused “medical engineers” in the future.

Imaging Wire Sponsors

annalise.ai  •  Arterys  •  Bayer  •  Blackford  •  Canon Medical  •  CARPL.ai  •  Change Healthcare  •  Enlitic  •  GE Healthcare  •  Hyperfine  •  Intelerad  •  Novarad  •  Riverain Technologies  •  Siemens Healthineers  •  United Imaging  •  Us2.ai

Ready to get to zero CD? Check out the latest Imaging Wire Show with PocketHealth CEO, Rishi Nayyar, exploring radiology’s image sharing problem and how PocketHealth’s patient-centric approach is allowing more hospitals to completely stop using CDs.

Artificial Intelligence

Arterys and Tempus’ Precision Merger

Arterys was just acquired by precision medicine AI powerhouse Tempus Labs, marking perhaps the biggest acquisition in the history of imaging AI, and highlighting the segment’s continued shift beyond traditional radiology use cases. 

Arterys has become one of imaging’s AI platform and cardiac MRI 4D flow leaders, leveraging its 12 years of work and $70M in funding to build out a large team of imaging/AI experts, a solid customer base, and an attractive intellectual property portfolio (AI models, cloud viewer, and a unique multi-vendor platform).

Tempus Labs might not be a household name among Imaging Wire readers, but they’ve become a giant in the precision medicine AI space, using $1.1B in VC funding and the “largest library of clinical & molecular data” to develop a range of precision medicine and treatment discovery / development / personalization capabilities.

It appears that Arterys will continue to operate its core radiology AI business (with far more financial support), while supporting the imaging side of Tempus’s products and strategy.

This acquisition might not be as unprecedented as some think. We’ve seen imaging AI assume a central role within a number of next-generation drug discovery/development companies, including Owkin and nference (who recently acquired imaging AI startup Predible), while imaging AI companies like Quibim are targeting both clinical use and pharma/life sciences applications.

Of course, many will point out how this acquisition continues 2022’s AI shakeup, which brought at least five other AI acquisitions (Aidence & Quantib by RadNet; Nines by Sirona, MedoAI by Exo, Predible by nference) and two strategic pivots (MaxQ AI & Kheiron). Although these acquisitions weren’t positive signs for the AI segment, they revealed that imaging AI startups are attractive to a far more diverse range of companies than many could have imagined back in 2021 (including pharma and life sciences).

The Takeaway

Arterys just transitioned from being an independently-held leader of the (promising but challenged) diagnostic imaging AI segment to being a key part of one of the hottest companies in healthcare AI, all while managing to keep its radiology business intact. That might not be the exit that Arterys’ founders envisioned, but in many ways it’s an ideal second chapter.

Microservice Architecture’s Many Benefits

See how cloud-native imaging avoids traditional software’s resource utilization constraints and eliminates unexpected disruptions in this Change Healthcare animation.

Photon-Counting CT’s Technology Foundation

Siemens Healthineers’ NAEOTOM Alpha made headlines as the world’s first photon-counting CT system, a technology that’s poised to redefine CT imaging. Check out this whitepaper detailing how the NAEOTOM Alpha’s unique resolution, contrast-to-noise ratio, and spectral sensitivity advantages could change CT forever.

The Wire

• Gleamer’s Pediatric Performance: A new Pediatric Radiology study highlighted Gleamer’s BoneView AI software’s impact on pediatric fracture detection. Three senior pediatric radiologists and five residents interpreted 300 pediatric X-rays (2-21yrs) with and without BoneView, finding that AI increased their overall sensitivity (82.8% vs. 73.3%) without significantly impacting specificity (90.3% vs. 89.6%). Although it appears that BoneView currently has FDA clearance for adults, this is the second recent study highlighting its pediatric performance.

• Imaging Confidence Remains Neutral: The AHRA’s Medical Imaging Confidence Index (n = 145; score range: 0-200) revealed that US imaging managers / directors’ expectations remained neutral in Q2 and Q3 2022. The imaging leaders’ responses amounted to an “ambivalent” 104 overall score (vs. 106 in Q1 2022), as confidence in diagnostic/IR growth (130 vs. 130) and imaging’s role as a profit center (126 vs. 135), were offset by low expectations for reimbursements (92 vs. 87), operating cost stability (84 vs. 84), and access to capital (94 vs. 98).

• Phase-Sensitive vs. DBT: New research in Radiology found that phase-sensitive breast tomosynthesis (PBT) might have similar diagnostic performance to conventional digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), and far lower radiation. Among 50 patients (w/ 52 lesions), nine radiologists found that PBT had a 24% lower average radiation dose than DBT (mean: 1.78 vs. 2.34 mGy), and a lower image quality score (2.9 vs. 3.8 out of 5), but produced the same diagnostic accuracy (both 0.74 AUCs).

• Half of EHR Notes Are Copy+Paste: It’s no secret that note bloat is a huge issue, but a new study in JAMA found that an eye-popping 50.1% of the total text in clinical EHR notes is copied from previous notes on the same patient. After reviewing over 100M notes, the analysis found that duplication increased from 33% of notes in 2015 to 54.2% of notes in 2020, which the authors say is a rational yet unsustainable response to “a documentation paradigm ill-suited to the task.”

• Delphinus’s Series D: Delphinus Medical Technologies scored $30M in Series D funding (total funding now $97M) that it will use to support the commercialization of its SoftVue 3D Whole Breast Ultrasound Tomography System. The FDA-cleared SoftVue scanner is positioned as a supplement to screening mammograms, reportedly detecting up to 20% more cancers among women with dense breasts, and works without compression or radiation.

• QT Imaging’s SPAC: In other breast ultrasound funding news, QT Imaging announced plans to go public through a SPAC merger with GigCapital5 in the first half of 2023, just a few months after launching a $30M convertible note offering. QT Imaging is best known for its FDA-cleared QTscan system, which combines transmission and reflection ultrasound to create 3D images.

• RadRes AI Experiences: A new UMass study highlighted radiology residents’ positive experiences using an AI-decision support system (AI-DSS) during clinical training. Among 15 senior residents who used the AI-DSS, 91.6% supported incorporating AI into their curriculum, 83.3% found AI to be useful for triaging cases, and 66.7% it to be useful for troubleshooting. However, far fewer residents found AI to help their speed (41.7%), accuracy (33.3%), and diagnosis determination (16.7%). 

• Enlitic’s MULTI Inc Alliance: Enlitic launched an alliance with imaging distributor MULTI Inc, who will deliver Enlitic’s Curie data standardization platform across MULTI’s hospital network. Enlitic joins a solid list of MULTI partners (e.g. GE, Philips, Siemens, Fujifilm, Agfa), while MULTI adds to Enlitic’s growing partner network that also includes two of the biggest PACS vendors.

• Tampa General Imaging Expansion: Tampa General Hospital continued its imaging center expansion, acquiring Palm Beach Radiology (1 imaging center, 3 rads). This is TGH’s first acquisition since it acquired Tower Radiology in early 2022 (21 imaging centers, >65 radiologists, previously a 50% TGH subsidiary). This latest acquisition further builds TGH’s presence in the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast areas. 

• DCE-MRI AI BCa Diagnostics: A NYU-led research team developed a deep learning algorithm that could improve the accuracy of dynamic contrast-enhanced breast MRI exams and reduce unnecessary biopsies. The algorithm (trained w/ 20k NYU breast MRIs) achieved a 0.92 AUROC with a 4k internal BMRI dataset. When tested against external data, the model closely matched the accuracy of five expert rads (+0.04 AUROC delta) and would have improved their detection if their predictions were combined (+0.07 AUPRC), while reducing unnecessary biopsies by 20% among women with benign BI-RADS 4 lesions.

• Portable President Prison Sentence: The president of Ohio-based mobile imaging company, Portable Radiology Services, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2M in restitution for healthcare fraud. The sentencing comes five months after a jury convicted the executive of fraudulently billing Medicare and Medicaid for X-ray services at nursing homes that didn’t take place (including 151 on patients that were already deceased).

DASA and CARPL.ai’s Pediatric AI Evaluation

When Sao Paolo’s Diagnosticos da America SA (DASA, the world’s 4th largest diagnostics company) set out to evaluate Qure.ai’s QXR solution for their pediatric chest X-ray workflows, they leveraged CARPL.ai’s platform to streamline their evaluation. See how it worked here.

Duke’s Case for ClearRead CT

This Riverain Technologies case study details how Duke University Medical Center integrated ClearRead CT into its chest CT workflows, reducing read times by 26% and improving nodule detection by 29%.

The Resource Wire

• See how East Texas Medical Center reduced its abdominal CT contrast volumes by 30% after adopting Bayer Radiology’s contrast dose management software.

• Check out our interview with United Imaging CEO, Jeffrey Bundy, who explores company culture’s central role in medical imaging and how to build, improve, and maintain culture. If you’re ready to improve your organization’s culture, this interview is a great way to start.

• Working on your organization’s AI strategy? This Blackford Analysis post outlines the key considerations for creating your AI goals and strategy, including some you might not have considered.

• Learn about how Us2.ai is bringing simplicity and clarity to the world of cardiac ultrasound, on the latest episode of The Bleeding Edge of Digital Health featuring Us2.ai’s founders, James Hare and Dr. Carolyn Lam. 

• Digitization and AI are an era-defining reality for radiology, and GE Healthcare is rising to the challenge by creating tools to build a world that works better for healthcare. Check out this report detailing GE’s digitization and AI innovations and its vision for precision healthcare.

• Canon’s Cartesion Prime is the only air-cooled digital PET/CT system, which means big reductions in service, chiller, and infrastructure costs. Check out Canon’s case for the air-cooled Cartesion Prime.

• Curious how certain your AI is about its own finding? annalise.ai’s confidence bar displays the likelihood of each finding and the AI model’s level of certainty, helping clinicians perform their interpretations with greater confidence.

• Ready to address burnout on your team? This Novarad report details the main burnout drivers within imaging teams, and the steps radiology leaders can take to prevent burnout.

• The Hyperfine Swoop Portable MR’s accessibility advantages can translate to significant clinical and operational value, particularly for hospital emergency and intensive care departments. See how bringing MRI to the point-of-care can impact hospitals’ operational costs, quality of care, and revenue potential.

• New healthcare technologies have traditionally been hard to implement, and that’s certainly been true for imaging AI, but some of AI’s challenges might have been avoided with the right standards and guidelines. Check out this Enlitic report outlining its 5-stage approach to less-challenging AI adoption.

• Healthcare AI’s rapid evolution continues to challenge FDA regulators, leading to new AI frameworks and action plans, and a growing list of questions from AI developers and users. In this editorial, Intelerad’s A.J. Watson answers those questions and details a path forward that supports both AI regulations and innovations.

• See how AI and the cloud combine to alleviate IT challenges and amplify radiologist performance in this Arterys white paper.