Anonymous physician from Medscape’s Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2024.

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Lung Imaging

Imaging and COVID Vaccine Effectiveness

In the debate over how long the protection from COVID-19 vaccines last, radiology has now entered the chat. A new study in Radiology shows that people with COVID who got vaccinated more than eight months before COVID diagnosis had more severe clinical findings on imaging exams. 

The rapid development of COVID vaccines and their rollout worldwide has been one of the biggest public health success stories of the last 100 years. 

• Still, even the most effective vaccines lose their potency over time, and COVID vaccines are no different. 

The question is, how long does the COVID vaccine’s protection last? 

• Previous research documented a decline during the Delta and Omicron waves in vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization, from 92% to 79% after 224-251 days, and a drop in efficacy against death from 91% to 86% after 168-195 days in those with severe COVID.

To shed more light on the issue, researchers in South Korea performed imaging exams on 4.2k patients with COVID from June 2021 to December 2022. 

• They correlated the severity of clinical outcomes like pneumonia visible on imaging exams to the length of time between patient diagnosis and when they had been vaccinated. 

Compared to those vaccinated in the last 90 days before COVID diagnosis, people vaccinated more than 240 days …

• Had almost twice odds of severe outcomes (OR = 1.94)
• Had higher odds of severe pneumonia on chest radiographs (OR = 1.65)
• But there was no difference in the odds of severe outcome between those vaccinated in the last 90 days and those vaccinated 91-240 days before diagnosis

In an interesting wrinkle to the study, the researchers found no statistically significant difference in odds of severe pneumonia visible on chest CT scans between those vaccinated more than 90 days before diagnosis and those vaccinated within 90 days.

• The authors proposed that the low use of CT for pneumonia assessment in their study population (20%) and its use primarily for critically ill patients could have introduced bias into the results. 

The Takeaway

The new findings shed light on the declining potency of COVID vaccines over time and could inform public debate over the length of time between boosters. The research also dovetails with other studies showing that the vaccine’s effectiveness does indeed begin to wane at six months.

Leveraging a Proven Echo AI Platform

Us2.ai has developed a promising new pathway for bringing custom echo AI applications into widespread clinical and commercial use – historically a challenge for algorithms produced by health systems and academic institutions. Find out how it worked in Uganda in this article.

AI Improves Radiologist Sensitivity for Fractures

Gleamer’s AI algorithm for detecting hand and wrist fractures on X-rays improved radiologist sensitivity in a recent clinical study – without affecting their specificity or positive predictive value. Find out how it worked on this page.

The Wire

• Is Physician Burnout Easing? Is the epidemic of physician burnout easing? That’s the suggestion of a new Medscape report indicating that while doctor burnout levels are still high, they ticked down in the 2024 survey compared to the previous year. Overall, fewer physicians reported burnout (49% vs. 53%) and depression (20% vs. 23%). But burnout rates have been at historically high levels since the COVID-19 pandemic, and with a burnout rate of 51% (vs. 54% in 2023) radiology is #6 out of 25 specialties. 

• Siemens Remote Scanning Clearance: A new software application from Siemens Healthineers that could address the shortage of radiologic technologists has received FDA clearance. Called syngo Virtual Cockpit, the solution enables users to connect up to three scanners to a remote location, where expert staff can conduct scans or provide support. The application works with CT, MRI, PET, SPECT, and hybrid modalities from Siemens and other companies, and is unique as a multi-vendor remote scanning application to receive FDA clearance as a medical product.

• Survey on AI Sentiment: A new Sermo survey of how healthcare leaders view AI found most taking the long view on AI’s impact on their operations. Of over 100 decision-makers, only 25% said they had implemented AI, and 21% said “significant opportunities” are being missed for deploying AI. But 91% said AI will be a major part of their growth and success five years out, and medical imaging AI integration is expected to nearly triple over the same period (21% vs. 62%). 

• Societies Weigh in on AI: Meanwhile, a group of radiology societies – including RSNA, ACR, and ESR – have issued a joint statement on the development, use, and monitoring of AI in radiology. Published jointly, the paper addresses the potential problems around using radiology AI, and includes advice to AI users, regulators, and developers, such as the admonition that developers should target unmet clinical needs rather than existing technology and datasets, and that AI performance should be continuously monitored over time. 

• NewVue Closes Seed Funding: Radiology worklist developer NewVue has closed its initial seed round of funding. NewVue has developed EmpowerSuite, which it describes as a cloud-based radiologist command center that integrates AI to match imaging exams with the radiologist best-suited to interpret them. NewVue was founded by former executives from peerVue, which was acquired by McKesson in 2012; it did not disclose the amount of the funding, but said it would use the funds to further develop its technology and expand its team.  

• CAC Scans Scare Patients Straight: People shown their own CT coronary artery calcium scores made lifestyle changes to reduce their cardiovascular risk. In the CAUGHT-CAD study in European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers described how among 449 people aged 40-70 who had no symptoms but had some risk factors, those who were shown their CAC scores by nurses annually and got statin therapy had a greater reduction in Framingham risk scores (-3.4%) after three years, as well as greater reductions in systolic blood pressure and waist circumference. 

• Bayer Taps Radiology Chief: Bayer has named Nelson Ambrogio as head of the radiology business at its pharmaceutical division, taking over from Gerd Krueger, who is retiring. Ambrogio’s career with Bayer has spanned over 25 years, most recently as head of the company’s US oncology business. Separately, Bayer announced a new operating structure designed to reduce hierarchies and eliminate bureaucracy. The company said the restructuring would include some job cuts. 

• 4DMedical Finalizes Philips Deal: 4DMedical has finalized its agreement with Philips to provide lung imaging technology to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. First announced in November, the partnership has 4DMedical and Philips collaborating to provide lung screening in support of the PACT Act. The second phase of the agreement involves using 4D lung imaging to screen veterans for deployment-related illnesses such as exposure to toxic burn pits using a combination of 4DMedical’s XV software and Philips’s fluoroscopy and CT systems. 

• Speeding Lung Cancer Diagnosis: Detecting lung cancer at an early stage and starting treatment quickly is key to ensuring patient survival. In a new study in Lung Cancer, Dutch researchers examined how quickly a diagnosis was reached in patients with suspected lung cancer. In all, 66% of patients were diagnosed within 5 weeks (versus the guideline recommendation of 80%), and 13% of patients never got a definitive diagnosis at all. Of these, 11% didn’t want to undergo invasive procedures, highlighting the need for less invasive diagnostic tests like liquid biopsy.

• Thirona Lung Software Cleared: The FDA has cleared the latest version of Thirona’s LungQ software for AI analysis of thoracic CT images. The company’s LungQ 3.0.0 solution uses AI to automatically segment pulmonary segments and subsegments in support of physicians diagnosing lung pathology. Thirona said the software acts as a “map for lung anatomy,” guiding bronchoscopy navigation and improving the precision and accuracy of bronchoscopy and surgical lung intervention. Thirona recently partnered with Aidence and Incepto on lung software, and raised $8M in mid-2023.

• Envisionit Deep AI Gets FDA Nod: Another AI developer that’s recently received FDA clearance is UK startup Envisionit Deep AI, which got the agency’s nod for its Radify algorithm for triaging pneumothorax and pleural effusion on chest X-ray. Envisionit says that clinical trials showed Radify had an AUC > 95% and can notify clinicians of pathology within three seconds. The algorithms were also evaluated against the FDA’s new cybersecurity rules. Envisionit raised $1.7M last year to commercialize its technology. 

• FFRCT’s CPT I Code: AI-based FFR-CT exams improved upon their already-strong reimbursement value proposition, after HeartFlow announced that FFRCT analysis transitioned to a Category I CPT code on January 1 (75580), replacing four existing Category III CPT codes (0501T-0504T). The new Category I CPT code now allows RVU-based payments to physicians for using the AI-based service in hospital outpatient, physician offices, or imaging centers, and increases hospital-based payments by roughly 7%. A recent study showed that HeartFlow FFRCT Analysis is the most-reimbursed AI service in medicine.

• Expanding Echo Access with AI: A new study out of South Africa highlighted how AI-enhanced handheld ultrasound can enable minimally trained clinicians to evaluate and monitor left ventricular hypertrophy, thus expanding echo access in low-resource settings. The researchers had 16 nurses and nurse-assistants without prior echo experience undergo a two-day handheld ultrasound training on assessing parasternal long axis views (PLAX). The clinicians obtained 756 echocardiograms, finding that 83% were evaluable using Us2.ai’s echo AI algorithm, and 82% of those exams were confirmed by a cardiologist without changes.

• ‘Striking’ Impact of Hospital Diagnostic Errors: A study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that nearly a quarter of hospitalized patients who died or were transferred to the ICU experienced a diagnostic error. After examining data from 2.4k patients across 29 academic medical centers, researchers identified 550 who had a diagnostic error (23%), with 436 experiencing harm as a result (18%). The underlying problems with the greatest association to diagnostic errors (and probably good starting points for safety improvement efforts) were errors in testing and clinical assessment.

Solutions to Solve Radiology’s Workflow Challenges

Radiology faces numerous challenges to more efficient workflow, from the siloed nature of healthcare enterprises to mundane tasks that are ripe for automation. In this Imaging Wire Show, we talked to Matthew Lungren, MD, and Calum Cunningham of Nuance Communications.

Allina Turns to the Cloud for Better Patient Care

Allina Health needed to replace its on-premises PACS to better serve patients. Learn how Allina turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Visage Imaging for a cloud-based implementation of the Visage 7 enterprise imaging platform.

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.

The Resource Wire

• How Your Imaging Tech Affects the Entire Enterprise: Join Konfidi Healthcare President Brandon Taggart and Enlitic’s Dave Wilson in a conversation about medical imaging technology. Dive into the key points and get your questions answered during this 30-minute webinar at 12 pm ET on January 25.

• Leveraging Pediatric Imaging AI: Check out this Blackford Analysis white paper detailing how children’s hospital imaging teams can leverage AI to improve modality throughput and imaging device availability.

• Navigating Breast Cancer with Empathy and Technology: How can cancer patients appreciate the benefits and value of innovation during their care journey? Join us at 10 am EST on February 6 for a live discussion hosted by GE HealthCare with breast cancer survivor and patient advocate Ellyn Winters-Robinson.

• Overcoming a Complex Image Exchange Workflow: Guadalupe Regional Medical Centre (GRMC) and Methodist Hospital implemented a PocketHealth Community Gateway that saved over 1,700 staff hours. Read how they streamlined image exchange, improved operational efficiencies, and ensured seamless continuity of care for patients at both sites.

• 5 Questions about Lung Cancer and AI: Lung cancer causes more deaths globally than colon, breast, and colon cancer combined. But technologies like AI and low-dose CT screening can help. Learn more in this Q&A with Ankur Sharma, MD, head medical affairs digital radiology at Bayer. 

• A Tactical Approach to Leadership Success: Learn new strategies for achieving leadership success in this on-demand recording of a RadEqual webinar sponsored by Intelerad and the American Association for Women in Radiology, and featuring Geraldine McGinty, MD, and Melissa Davis, MD.

• An End-to-End AV and AI Solution: Never buy separate AV and AI solutions again. Get in touch with TeraRecon to find out how your health system can benefit from all the Intuition clinical features you need, plus a growing list of exclusive subscription-only content that leverages the power of AI.

• Expanding Advanced CT Imaging: How can advanced CT technology like dual-source imaging be made more widely available to hospitals that need it? In this Imaging Wire Show interview, we talked to Olivia Egan of Siemens Healthineers about new dual-source CT technology the company is introducing.

• Faster MRI Scans with No Compromise: What if you could speed up your MRI scans with no compromise on image quality? In this video from RSNA 2023, we talked to SpinTech MRI CEO Karen Holzberger and Senior Clinical Sales Executive John Ciliberto about how their STAGE software is making this vision a reality.

• The Multitenant Cloud Advantage: Check out this Change Healthcare video explaining the difference between single-tenant and multitenant cloud architecture, and how multitenant solutions can improve your efficiency and flexibility.

• Memorial MRI’s Choice for Patient Comfort: Texas has one of the highest obesity rates in the US. So to best serve its patients, Memorial MRI & Diagnostic in Houston turned to United Imaging and its 3.0T uMR OMEGA MRI scanner with 75cm ultra-wide-bore. Learn more about their story. 

• The Difference Is in the Details: Riverain Technologies has developed the capability to create synthetic nodules automatically and place them in relevant anatomical contexts. Hear Chief Science Officer Jason Knapp explain the company’s unique position in this video. 

• A Better Way to Deploy AI: CARPL.ai’s end-to-end modular platform for AI deployment is changing how University Hospitals in Cleveland uses AI to enhance patient care. Hear from UH clinicians and administrators as they share their experiences.

• Improving the Patient Experience: How is Clearpath improving the healthcare experience for patients? Learn more about the company and its solutions for ditching the disc when sharing images and records with patients. 

• New Industry Research on Cloud in Imaging: 77% of imaging organizations rely on cloud – but most still haven’t fully integrated cloud or maximized its potential. Check out the new industry research report from Merge by Merative on enterprise cloud adoption and its challenges.