ECR 2023 President Dr. Adrian Brady, addressing concerns about the impact of new technologies like AI on radiology.

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Big news, everyone – Today’s Imaging Wire issue was written by Brian Casey, the undisputed GOAT of radiology news, and he’ll be writing every future issue too. Brian co-founded AuntMinnie and served as their Editor in Chief for 23 years, so he knows a thing or two about radiology and will take great care of you. 

I’ll be moving over to our Cardiac Wire publication, so feel free to subscribe if you also focus on cardiology. Before I go, I’d like to thank you all for your support over the last 496 Imaging Wire issues. It’s been amazing and I appreciate every last one of you.

See you at RSNA.

Jake

Medical Imaging

ECR 2023 Bounces Back As AI Tops Clinical Program

The European Congress of Radiology is back. European radiologists returned to Vienna in force last week for ECR 2023, surprising many naysayers with crowded presentation rooms and exhibit booths.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first ECR meeting since 2019 to be held in the conference’s traditional timeframe of early March. And after a lightly attended ECR 2022, held during Europe’s July vacation season, many were watching with bated breath to see if the conference could mount a comeback. 

Fortunately, ECR 2023 didn’t disappoint. While attendance didn’t hit the high water mark set prior to the pandemic, it was strong enough to satisfy most that the show was indeed healthy, with chatter on-site placing attendance at around 17,000.

As with RSNA 2022, interest in AI was strong. AI-based content permeated the scientific sessions as well as the exhibit floor, and the show’s AI Theatre was packed for nearly every presentation. 

In his opening address, ECR 2023 President Dr. Adrian Brady of Ireland addressed concerns about AI’s impact on radiology in the years to come, characterizing it as one of the “winds of change” that should be embraced rather than shunned. 

Other major trends at ECR 2023 included: 

Patient Safety – Many sessions discussed how to reduce risk when scanning patients, ranging from lowering radiation dose to limiting the amount of contrast media to MRI scanning of patients with metallic implants.

Sustainability – Energy challenges have gripped the European continent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and imaging energy conservation was a key focus across several sessions. 

Workhorse Modalities – Unlike RSNA, where new product launches were focused on high-end premium systems, scanner introductions at ECR 2023 concentrated on workhorse offerings like mid-range CT and 1.5-tesla MRI.

The Takeaway

ECR is indeed back. It may not yet be a mandatory show for most U.S. radiologists, but it has regained its importance for anyone interested in a more global look at medical imaging. And given the European emphasis on research, it’s a great place to learn about new technologies before they appear in North America.

Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines: One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Pandemic delays, conflicting screening guidelines, and a diverse mix of risk factors may put millions of women at risk of late breast cancer diagnoses. That’s why this editorial by Dr. Amy Patel of Liberty Hospital and Morris Panner of Intelerad emphasizes the need to adopt the right technology and best practices to ensure providers can address this challenge.

DLR’s Image Quality and Outcome Improvements

Smart technologies built with AI can be seen across many aspects of daily life. Learn how GE HealthCare’s TrueFidelity deep-learning image reconstruction application has been strengthening customer experiences with images.

The Wire

• MRI Accident Shrouded in Mystery: An MRI accident has apparently occurred at a hospital in Northern California, but details on the incident are sketchy. Rumors are that it involved a nurse wheeling a patient into the MRI room on a gurney that was sucked into the magnet bore. The location of the hospital has still not been confirmed, but the nurse reportedly sustained serious injuries. More to come …. 

• Familiar COVID Foe Still a Problem: A familiar foe that frustrated radiologists during the COVID-19 pandemic is still an issue, says a new study in AJR. Axillary lymphadenopathy – swollen lymph nodes – following COVID vaccine boosters is still occurring on breast imaging exams. The condition can mimic cancer, indicating that radiologists still need to be aware of an individual’s COVID vaccine history. Fortunately, the condition resolves in about 102 days after a booster, compared to 129 days for a first vaccination.

• International Women’s Day Highlights Radiology Challenges: Many radiology professionals on RadTwitter observed International Women’s Day on March 8. While the specialty has made major strides in boosting the number of women in leadership positions (the growing number of female journal editors comes to mind), female radiologists earn less than their male counterparts – as with many other medical specialties. 

• Call Connected to Radiologist Burnout: Nearly half of a group of 254 private-practice radiologists (46%) who took a recent survey say they are burned out, with call shifts (evening, overnight, and weekend) connected to higher burnout levels. Not surprisingly, radiologists who had lower levels of professional fulfillment had higher burnout levels, but in a surprise, older radiologists were less likely to say they were burned out. Self-care can help mitigate the problem. 

• Siemens Doubles Down On Digital Pathology: Siemens Healthineers is doubling down on digital pathology, signing a deal with Hamamatsu Photonics to sell its whole-slide pathology scanners in the Americas and Europe. The agreement follows a 2022 deal that Siemens inked with digital pathology software developer Proscia to add its Concentriq Dx software to Siemens’ enterprise imaging platform.  

• Lung Cancer Deaths to Fall in Europe: A decline in smoking will lead to fewer deaths from lung cancer in Europe and the U.K. in 2023. Researchers predict that death rates will fall 6.5% in men and 3.7% in women from 2018 to 2023. Cancer death rates peaked in 1988 and have fallen since then, largely due to advances in tobacco control. But the gains are not across the board – lung cancer death rates for women will rise in France, Italy, and Spain. 

• NY Times Promotes Breast AI, Peeves RadTwitter: The use of AI for breast screening was the focus of an article on the front page of the Sunday edition of the New York Times. The story focused on the application of AI for mammography in Hungary, where an algorithm from Kheiron Medical Technologies has been tested in breast screening programs since 2021. But at least one radiologist objected to what he felt was a clickbait headline and “harmful hype” of AI. 

• Deep Learning Slashes CTA Read Times: A deep learning algorithm was able to cut image interpretation times in half by correctly identifying stenosis and classifying plaque in head and neck vessels on CT angiography exams. In a Radiology study of 3,266 patients, researchers from China found that the AI algorithm helped radiologists with visual assessment and boosted confidence. This translated to a reduction in reporting time from 28.8 minutes per exam to 12.4 minutes. 

• Will CMS Clear Dispute Backlog? A coalition of medical groups including the ACR are urging CMS to clear a backlog of independent dispute resolution (IDR) payment determinations. The backlog began forming after CMS suspended payment determinations after a Texas federal court ruled against the No Surprises Act.

• AI Lightens Load for Rads: A study out of Denmark adds weight to the idea that AI working on its own could help reduce radiologist workloads by ruling out normal chest X-rays. Oxipit ChestLink had 99.1% sensitivity in a study of over 1,500 patients, and of the normal chest radiographs, 28% could be reported autonomously and 7.8% could have been removed from the radiologist worklist entirely. Radiologists in the past have been skeptical about the concept of autonomous AI. Will studies like this win them over?

• GE Gets into Manganese MRI Contrast Game: Count GE HealthCare as one of the latest MRI contrast agent developers to reveal their work on MRI contrast agents based on manganese, a naturally occurring element in the human body. Contrast developers see these agents as alternatives to gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs), which have been linked to some health issues. GE says it has completed phase I recruitment in a trial at a hospital in Norway of its manganese-based contrast candidate.

Discover the AI Tools Every Radiology Department Needs

What are the AI tools that every radiology department needs to operate more efficiently? This webinar recording answers that question, and teaches you how one simple software upgrade from Subtle Medical can help boost your facility’s image quality, workflow, and patient care.

The Complete Guide to Radiology AI

Radiology is leading healthcare’s AI revolution, and yet many people in radiology are just starting to build their understanding of AI. That’s why Bayer published its truly Complete Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Radiology, detailing how AI can address radiology’s challenges, AI’s core use cases, and AI’s path towards adoption.

Imaging AI’s Next Wave

We may be entering a third wave of imaging AI’s rapid evolution, that brings a shift from narrow point solutions to comprehensive multi-finding AI systems. Join this discussion with annalise.ai Chief Medical Officer, Rick Abramson, MD, exploring how this transition could take place, how radiologist and VC perspectives on AI are changing, and how AI might continue to evolve in the future.

The Resource Wire

• See how Dubai-based healthcare leader Aster DM Healthcare leveraged the CARPL platform to connect its doctors, data scientists, and imaging workflows, and support its AI projects and development infrastructure.

• Is AI a friend or foe to medical imaging and healthcare professionals? In this all-star panel discussion hosted by Merative, radiology key opinion leaders discuss why AI adoption seems to be going slower than expected, and what lessons have been learned that will pave the way for increased AI deployment in the years to come. 

• “This clinical experience, in a real critical time, proved that this ultra-low-field strength MRI, portable and self-shielding, could image patients in the most difficult circumstances.” That’s one of the clinical perspectives shared by Hyperfine Swoop users in this ASNR 2022 panel.

• The flow of new AI applications makes it hard for radiology groups to determine which tools would help them and how IT teams can handle increased AI adoption. In this Blackford Analysis white paper, radiology and IT leaders from NYU and Canopy Partners share how a platform approach alongside a curated marketplace can help solve these challenges.

• See Dr. Brian Goldner of UC Davis Sacramento detail his experience with Canon’s Ultra High Resolution CT and how it can be applied to cardiothoracic interpretations.

• Healthcare’s data fluency challenges have existed for years, and they are increasingly getting in the way of care delivery and the completion of AI projects. This Enlitic report details the three data fluency challenges that healthcare must overcome, and how it addresses these challenges.

• Is your organization ready to move enterprise imaging to the cloud? Check out this Change Healthcare and ACHE webinar detailing cloud-native imaging’s benefits, best practices, and ROI.

• Clinical applications for healthcare AI are rapidly expanding, but many barriers are still preventing widespread adoption. This Nuance post explores a critical set of questions: what happens after an AI model goes into production, and how to know if it continues to perform as expected?

• See how New Jersey’s Ramapo Radiology Associates overcame their CD burning problems and improved their physician and patient experiences with Novarad CryptoChart.

• See how adopting ClearRead CT allowed Michigan’s Regional Medical Imaging’s radiologists to complete their chest CT reads faster and more accurately in this Riverain Technologies case study.

• Find out what built for the modern world means — and why it matters — in this AuntMinnie profile on United Imaging’s more modern approach to vertical integration, leadership, and culture.

• We talk a lot about AI’s potential to expand echo access, and this Imaging Wire Show reveals that ultrasound’s AI-driven expansion might go far beyond what many of us had in mind. Check out our discussion with Duke Health’s Madhav Swaminathan, MBBS, MD, and Us2.ai’s Carolyn Lam MBBS, PhD, and James Hare to see how AI is democratizing echo exams.

• Siemens Healthineers’ AI-Rad Companion family of AI-powered workflows has been expanding across modalities and anatomies, automating repetitive tasks and helping improve diagnostic precision. See how AI-Rad Companion can fully integrate into your workflows and support your clinical outcomes.

• Imaging AI’s clinical and productivity benefits are becoming increasingly clear, but selecting and implementing the right solution can be difficult. This Arterys paper details how an AI platform strategy allows providers to efficiently and accurately evaluate AI applications, so they can start realizing their targeted AI benefits.