JD4540 in the radHQ.net forums, in a post on cuts in Medicare reimbursement.

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Breast Imaging

Uneven Success Against Breast Cancer

The decline in breast cancer mortality has been one of public health’s major success stories. But when you look at it from a global perspective, it’s the best of times and the worst of times. 

That’s because success in fighting breast cancer has been uneven around the world. While countries in North America, Western Europe, and Oceania have seen dramatic declines in breast cancer mortality and advanced-stage disease, other regions continue to be plagued by what really is becoming a survivable disease for most women. 

A new study in JAMA Oncology points out these disparities, documenting major differences in rates of advanced breast disease between countries in what researchers said was the most comprehensive review to date of global differences in breast cancer stage at diagnosis. 

• Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 133 studies covering 2.4M women across 81 nations over the past two decades, documenting differences in rates of advanced breast disease at diagnosis both over time and between countries. 

While most high-income nations have seen declines in rates of distant metastatic disease over the past 20 years, advanced-stage disease remains stubbornly common in lower middle-income countries. Researchers found: 

• Rates of distant metastatic disease varied across countries by region, with sub-Saharan Africa the highest and North America the lowest (6-31% vs. 0-6%)
• Lower socioeconomic status was tied to more advanced disease when women in the most disadvantaged group were compared to least disadvantaged (3-11% vs. 2-8%)
• There were pronounced disparities even in high-resource countries with established screening programs, as rates of metastatic disease were twice as high in women of low socioeconomic status (SES) compared to high SES women, such as in the US (8% vs. 4%) 
• Older women had a much higher prevalence of advanced disease across different countries compared to younger women (range of 4-34% vs. 2-16%), a phenomenon that could be because most screening programs stop at age 75
• 40% of countries did not meet the Global Breast Cancer Initiative goal of having 60% or more of patients diagnosed at stage I or II

The Takeaway

The new findings indicate that it’s too soon to take a victory lap in the battle against breast cancer. While progress at higher socioeconomic levels in high-income countries has been impressive, breast cancer remains a scourge among more disadvantaged women and across wide regions of the world.

Get a Sneak Peak at RSNA 2023

Join Intelerad on November 14 at 2 pm ET for a behind-the-scenes webinar on the latest innovations at RSNA 2023. Learn how the company’s technology can help support your enterprise imaging goals.

Learn about Subtle Solutions

How can Subtle Medical’s advanced solutions like SubtleMR and SubtlePET – and upcoming SubtleSYNTH launch – improve image quality, workflow efficiency, and patient care? Find out in this RSNA 2023 Lunch & Learn session at Noon Tuesday November 28.

The Wire

• Pediatric CT Scans Linked to Later Cancers: A massive study of almost 1M children and young adults led by Spanish researchers confirmed a link between pediatric CT scans and future cancers. In Nature Medicine, researchers found that young people up to age 22 who underwent standard 8mGy CT scans had a 16% higher risk of cancer, a rate that translates to 1-2 cancers per 10k pediatric CT scans over 12 years. The findings highlight the need to be vigilant about keeping pediatric radiation dose low. 

• GE Signs Integration Deal with Sectra: GE HealthCare and Sectra have signed a technology integration deal that will enable users of GE’s AW family of advanced visualization workstations to use Sectra enterprise imaging software, including image review, orchestration, and report generation and distribution. The partnership will focus initially on integrating Sectra technology with GE’s CardioIQ Suite for coronary artery calcification and scoring. The deal is an impressive combination between two companies that are leaders in their respective segments of radiology. 

• Reducing CT Energy Use: With concerns rising about global warming, radiology has been investigating ways to reduce its energy use. When it comes to CT, it’s best to target energy consumption when scanners are idle rather than when they are scanning patients. That’s according to a new article in AJR that found that reducing CT energy use during the idle state had a 15X greater impact than reducing it during scanning (annual energy savings of 40.4M kWh vs. 2.7M kWh), without affecting patient protocols.  

• Elucid Adds $80M: Cardiovascular AI continues to be arguably the hottest segment in the imaging AI arena, following Elucid’s $80M Series C round (total funding now $121M). Elucid will use the new capital to drive its commercialization efforts and expand its suite of AI-powered cardiovascular risk solutions, which currently focuses on a unique histological-based approach to CTA AI atherosclerosis assessments and could add FFRCT in the future. Elucid joins Cleerly and HeartFlow among the cardiovascular imaging AI startups that have raised over $100M.

• Flexible X-Ray Detectors: Flexible digital X-ray detectors that conform to patient anatomy could someday become a reality if research described in Advanced Science pans out. Researchers from the UK’s University of Surrey explored different formulations of organic semiconductors by adding low quantities of high-atomic-number elements to find a material that had adequate sensitivity for possible uses like medical imaging, radiation therapy, and security scanning. The university has spun out Silveray Ltd. to commercialize the technology. 

• RapidAI Gets FDA Nod for Hematoma AI: The FDA has cleared RapidAI’s Rapid SDH AI algorithm for the detection and notification of suspected hemispheric acute and chronic subdural hematoma (SDH). Rapid SDH analyzes brain scans, and if an SDH is detected, sends an alert to the trauma team via a mobile app, helping them make patient treatment and transfer decisions more quickly. This is the latest in a series of clearances this year for RapidAI, which hauled in a $75M Series C funding round in July. 

• Imaging Provider to Pay $450k for Data Breach: US Radiology Specialists has signed an agreement with the New York state attorney general’s office to pay $450k for a 2021 cybersecurity breach in which a hacker gained access to personal data of 192k patients. Attorney General Letitia James claimed that US Radiology “failed to quickly update its firewall to protect itself and its partner companies’ networks from cyber threats.”

• Signify Paper Focuses on Cloud PACS: A new white paper from Signify Research focuses on radiology’s growing move to cloud-based PACS, including interviews with healthcare providers that have made the switch to the cloud from on-premises digital image management. The paper details the advantages that cloud PACS confers in a range of areas, such as operational cost, flexibility and scalability, security, and staffing, particularly as institutions look to outsource their IT infrastructure.  

• Ultromics’ Outpatient Reimbursement: Echo AI solutions company Ultromics announced that CMS assigned a $284 reimbursement for each outpatient use of echo AI tools for HFpEF detection (HCPCS code: APC 5743), such as with the company’s EchoGo Heart Failure product. The new 2024 echo AI HFpEF reimbursement comes just a few months after CMS issued an NTAP reimbursement for inpatient use, and continues a strong trend towards cardiovascular imaging AI reimbursements following payments for FFR-CT analysis and CT AI plaque assessments.

• Breast Density App Added to ACR Platform: The ACR’s Data Science Institute (DSI) has added the WRDensity breast density app from Whiterabbit.ai to its AI-LAB platform. WRDensity is designed to help radiologists assess breast density more accurately and more consistently, and AI-LAB will use the application to simplify the evaluation and adoption of AI for uses such as breast density assessment. AI-LAB is a toolkit developed to help radiologists develop AI algorithms at their own institutions. 

• Follow-Up Software Launched: Softek Illuminate has launched Discovery360, a new application for following up on actionable incidental findings detected on imaging exams. Discovery360 ensures that all members of the care team see incidental findings, and is designed to function as an enterprise IT-level solution that can eliminate staffing challenges associated with identifying, tracking, and managing these patients. 

• Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy’s CAD Impact: A large registry study used cardiac MRI to analyze patients suspected of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (CM), suggesting the condition may be partly to blame for obstructive CAD patients’ poor revascularization outcomes. In the study of 3k CAD patients, the 17% flagged by cardiac MRI as having non-ischemic CM or dual cardiomyopathy (non-ischemic or ischemic) had a higher risk for death or HF hospitalization than CAD patients with ischemic CM (HR: 1.23).

Clarity, Speed, and Confidence in MRI

Don’t miss SpinTech MRI’s RSNA 2023 session at 2 pm November 27 with James Backstrom, MD, who will share how he drove MRI efficiency for a busy radiology department by utilizing the company’s Stage platform.

Discover the Power of the AI Platform

Do you want to streamline your diagnosis, improve your efficiency, and measure your ROI? Then reserve a slot at the Bayer Experience Center at RSNA 2023 to discover the power of the AI platform with Calantic Digital Solutions and Bayer’s ROI calculator.

A World Where Healthcare Has No Limits

Join GE HealthCare at RSNA 2023 at Booth #7326 in the North Hall at McCormick Place. Come see what’s new in our Innovation Theater, or drop in virtually and watch a livestream.

The Resource Wire

• Learn How AI Can Help at RSNA 2023: AI can help your radiology practice in a variety of applications, from detecting pulmonary nodules on chest CT to improving echocardiography readings. Learn more from AI developers on the Blackford Platform at RSNA 2023. 

• Biomarker Extraction and the Future of AI: Join Riverain Technologies’ Chief Science Officer Jason Knapp for a talk on biomarker extraction and the future of AI for population health in the AI Showcase at RSNA 2023 at 12 pm on Tuesday November 28. 

• Solutions to Transform Medical Image Delivery: Medical providers and health systems are looking to ditch the disc and modernize their patients’ journey. Learn how Clearpath helps them reduce the cost of retrieving and fulfilling patient requests for imaging and medical records.

• What to Expect from United Imaging at RSNA 2023: At RSNA 2023, United Imaging will be celebrating its fifth anniversary of commercial operations in the US. In this Imaging Wire Show, we talked about the company’s RSNA highlights with Michael Coulter, senior vice president of modality business management and market strategy. 

• Learn About AI Adoption at RSNA 2023: Learn about the right approach to AI adoption at RSNA 2023. Discover how CARPL.ai and the platform approach enable seamless integration of radiology AI, create true clinical impact, and drive ROI. Join us at the AI Theater on November 27 at 1:30 PM. 

• Join Industry Leaders for a Lunch & Learn at RSNA: In this Lunch & Learn presentation at RSNA sponsored by PocketHealth, learn how industry leaders have improved population health, patient experiences, and operational efficiencies. Register for free!

• Meet Merge at RSNA 2023: Merge is an innovative provider of proven radiology technology solutions, and is a committed transformation partner to imaging organizations, enabling user and patient satisfaction across the enterprise. Explore Merge’s presence at RSNA 2023.

• Advanced Imaging Access for All: Patients’ zip codes shouldn’t determine the healthcare they receive. Siemens Healthineers aims to make advanced diagnostic imaging accessible for all patients. Register today for a launch event on November 16 at 12:00 p.m. ET to meet the company’s new Somatom CT family member. 

• Deciding between public and private cloud? Trying to decide between public and private cloud? Watch this brief Change Healthcare animation detailing the operational benefits of public cloud hosting for imaging.

• AI Echo Copilot – The Future of Echocardiography: New technology from Us2ai called Us2.connect allows you to add echo AI automation to any echo device. Any echo machine can now have 100% automated reporting with disease detection and editable measurements – all generated in realtime as you scan.

• A Comprehensive AI Copilot: Gleamer is dedicated to pioneering the future of medical imaging by building a comprehensive AI copilot that will pave the way for precision medicine. Learn more about the company and its solutions. 

• An Integrated Approach to Radiology AI: AI automates what radiologists can’t stand, surfaces what radiologists can’t see, and identifies what radiologists can’t miss. But only if it’s implemented in the way radiologists work. See how Nuance helps radiologists achieve these results through a single, streamlined, end-to-end AI experience.

• The Journey to Cloud-Based PACS: Radiology is looking closely at cloud-based PACS as an alternative to on-premises digital image management. Learn about providers who have made the switch with Visage Imaging in this white paper from Signify Research. 

• Get Prepared for RSNA 2023: Enlitic is bringing its latest innovations in data standardization, deidentification and anonymization and coding discrepancy detection to the show floor at RSNA 2023. Prepare for your conference by scheduling a time with Enlitic today. 

• Overcoming the Radiologist Shortage: How can radiology practices use innovative training and education techniques to grow and overcome the ongoing shortage of radiologists? Find out in this Imaging Wire Show interview with Daniel Arnold and Deanna Heier of Medality.