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AI Guides Lung Ultrasound | Stopping RT Turnover
January 16, 2025
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Together with
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“The fact that technologists outnumber radiologists by more than six to one indicates how deeply the work of radiologists depends on the contributions of technologists.”
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Del Mundo WO et al, in a new paper on the radiologic technologist workforce crisis.
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There is a host of regulatory changes affecting reimbursement for radiology services coming into effect in 2025. We talked to Sandy Coffta of Healthcare Administrative Partners to get the latest update in this edition of The Imaging Wire Show.
You will be receiving next week’s edition of The Imaging Wire on Tuesday rather than Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
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Healthcare professionals with no experience in lung ultrasound were able to acquire diagnostic-quality scans comparable to those of experts thanks to AI guidance in a new paper in JAMA Cardiology.
Ultrasound is one of the most versatile and cost-effective imaging modalities, but it is operator-dependent and many of its more challenging clinical applications require highly trained personnel.
- Echocardiography AI has already been shown to help novice healthcare personnel improve their skill to that of expert users – could AI also have applications in other areas, like lung ultrasound?
To find out, researchers used Caption Health’s AI technology to guide lung ultrasound scans in 176 patients with clinical concerns for pulmonary edema from July to December 2023.
- Patients were scanned twice, once by an expert in lung ultrasound without AI guidance and once by a healthcare professional (registered nurses or medical assistants without formal ultrasound training) who received a short training session with lung guidance AI software.
In analyzing the results, the researchers found …
- Nearly all the scans acquired by healthcare professionals with AI assistance were of diagnostic quality.
- There was no statistically significant difference in quality between scans acquired by healthcare personnel and those of experts (98% vs. 97%, p=0.31).
- AI-aided personnel actually performed better than experts in the lung area around the heart (91% vs. 77%), perhaps due to AI guidance.
- At 15 minutes, median scan acquisition times were longer than those reported in the literature (six and eight minutes).
The findings could have major implications around access-to-care issues, with handheld ultrasound scanners distributed to low-resource areas where AI-guided healthcare professionals could perform scans sent to tertiary care centers for interpretation.
The Takeaway
The new study demonstrates an exciting use case for AI in ultrasound that builds on previous research in echo AI. By giving more healthcare professionals access to the power of ultrasound, it promises to democratize access to care in many resource-challenged areas.
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Celebrating Happy Customers
There’s nothing better than happy customers. Find out what radiology personnel at Western New York MRI in Buffalo had to say about their new uMR 680 scanner from United Imaging.
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- Stopping RT Turnover: What are the factors contributing to workforce shortages and high turnover of radiologic technologists? And what can radiologists do? A new paper in Academic Radiology examines these questions, focusing on a sonographer staffing crisis that occurred at an unnamed hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Low compensation led to sonographer departures and a “high-velocity downward retention spiral.” Radiologists can play a key role in stopping such spirals, and the article includes a number of suggestions – only a few of which involve raising salaries.
- FDA AI Approvals Top 1k: The FDA has given regulatory authorization to over 1k AI-enabled medical devices as of the agency’s last count through September 2024. In all, 1,016 AI products have been approved, with radiology making up 76% of the total (up from 73% in the first half of 2024 but down from 80% in 2023). GE HealthCare has 81 total clearances (including Caption Health and MIM Software), while Siemens Healthineers has 73 (including Varian).
- Combo AI Model Predicts MACE: An AI model that uses a combination of coronary CT angiography and stress cardiac MRI scans was able to predict major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease with good accuracy in a new paper in Radiology. French researchers developed the model and tested it in 2k patients, achieving AUC of 0.86, which was higher than traditional methods (AUC=0.55-0.71) and CCTA or stress MRI alone (AUC=0.76 and 0.83).
- Informatics Pioneers Join HOPPR: AI foundation model developer HOPPR is welcoming two imaging informatics pioneers with a history of launching successful startups. William Boonn, MD, has been named HOPPR’s chief medical officer, and joining him is Woojin Kim, MD, as chief strategy officer and CMIO. Both were previously with Rad AI. Boonn and Kim collaborated in the launch of several companies, including Equium Intelligence (sold to Rad AI) and Montage Healthcare Solutions (sold to Nuance).
- Less Contrast Dose with Photon-Counting CT: A photon-counting CT protocol enabled researchers to slash cardiovascular CT iodine contrast dose by 75% with diagnostic-quality images. In a paper in European Journal of Radiology, researchers shared a protocol for Siemens Healthineers’ Naeotom Alpha scanner that used a mixture of 80% iopromide contrast and 20% sodium chloride at a dose of 9.8 mL (standard dose=50-100 mL). They acquired virtual monoenergetic images at energy levels from 40-68 keV, with the 40-keV images rated best and all images considered of diagnostic quality.
- Never-Smoker Lung Screening: One of the mysteries of lung cancer is when it occurs in people who never smoked – a particular problem in East Asia. But is it worth screening them with CT? A new study in JAMA Network Open questions that assumption, finding that CT lung screening of low-risk people could lead to overdiagnosis. South Korean researchers scanned 21.1k people with no smoking histories, finding 94% of baseline screens were negative (versus 86% in NLST), with a false-positive rate of 5.5% – a sign of overdiagnosis.
- 4DMedical Gets DoD Pilot Project: 4DMedical will be working with the U.S. Department of Defense on a pilot project to test its CT:VQ technology to assess lung health in military personnel. CT:VQ will be used to examine 80 active-duty personnel, giving insights into ventilation and perfusion abnormalities to detect pulmonary conditions like COPD and chronic thromboembolic hypertension. The project builds on 4DMedical’s earlier agreement with the DoD for testing its CT LVAS software in a pilot project.
- Lantheus to Buy Life Molecular: Lantheus plans to acquire PET radiopharmaceutical developer Life Molecular Imaging in a transaction that could be worth up to $750M. Life Molecular developed the Neuraceq (florbetaben fluorine-18) PET radiotracer for detecting plaque density in patients being evaluated for Alzheimer’s disease, and is developing fluorine-18 PI-2620 for detecting tau neurofibrillary tangles related to Alzheimer’s and other neurological conditions. The acquisition will give Lantheus a big boost in the Alzheimer’s PET tracer segment, which is seeing growth due to new therapeutic drugs.
- GE Inks Big Sutter Health Alliance: GE HealthCare has signed a seven-year partnership to supply imaging equipment to Sutter Health of California in what the company is calling one of its “largest ever enterprise strategic partnerships.” GE dubbed the partnership a Care Alliance and said it will include PET/CT, SPECT/CT, MRI, CT, X-ray, and ultrasound. It also includes a workforce development component in which GE will help Sutter design programs for hiring personnel such as radiologic technologists from the community.
- PE Firm Repositions Collaborative Imaging: PE firm WindRose Health Investors has acquired Collaborative Imaging’s technology platform and is repositioning it as CIVIE, with a focus on AI-powered radiology solutions. CIVIE’s technology includes cloud-based revenue cycle and imaging workflow software, including RIS, PACS, VNA, and speech-to-text applications. Collaborative Imaging’s management team, headed by CEO Dhruv Chopra, will transition to CIVIE and lead the company.
- FDA Clears Imvaria AI: AI developer Imvaria received FDA clearance for ScreenDx, its algorithm for detecting interstitial lung disease on CT scans. Imvaria said ScreenDx is designed to supplement existing workflows for detecting ILD by assessing for the condition automatically, working across clinical settings including the emergency room, specialty clinics, and CT lung screening programs. This is the second clearance for Imvaria following the FDA nod last year for its Fibresolve algorithm for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
- Grant Funds CAC Prediction Model: Researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio have received NIH grants totaling $4M to develop AI models to predict heart failure based on non-contrast CT coronary artery calcium scans. They will leverage existing CAC scoring programs to develop radiomics models that can predict heart failure using CT-derived structural heart biomarkers like cardiac remodeling and hemodynamics.
- NVIDIA Buys Vietnamese AI Firm: GPU giant NVIDIA took a step into radiology AI software by acquiring Vietnamese AI developer VinBrain. VinBrain develops AI solutions for a variety of clinical applications, including the DrAid chest X-ray AI algorithm, which automatically detects 21 different chest X-ray abnormalities and was cleared by the FDA in 2022. The company’s DrAid for liver segmentation was cleared in December 2024. NVIDIA’s GPU hardware has been instrumental in powering AI’s expansion, so it will be interesting to see what it does with this new acquisition.
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3 Ways AI Can Enhance Radiology Workflows
While disease detection was the initial driver for AI in radiology, the technology can also help improve workflows and reduce workloads for radiologists. Learn how AI can contribute in this article from Merge by Merative.
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- Stop Shipping Discs! By pivoting to a 100% digital fulfillment model for patient images and records, you can improve their experience while significantly reducing labor and shipping costs. Find out how on this page from Clearpath.
- Revolutionizing Medical Imaging Data Management: Enlitic has acquired Laitek, and the combination creates new possibilities to revolutionize medical imaging data management. Learn more about Laitek and how its advanced migration services can benefit your radiology practice.
- Quality in Photon-Counting CT: Quality is the cornerstone of Siemens Healthineers’ photon-counting CT technology. They’ve invested in every step of the process, from X-ray tubes to detectors and workflow. Discover how they strive for the highest levels of quality in photon-counting CT.
- Revolutionizing Quality in Remote Mammography: Subspecialty radiology platform DocPanel embraced the zero-footprint capabilities of Mach7’s eUnity Diagnostic Viewer to boost productivity, save resources, and bridge coverage gaps in remote areas. Find out how they did it in this case study.
- Visage’s Top 5 Topics from RSNA 2024: What were the hot topics from RSNA 2024? From a big increase in booth traffic to immersive excitement over the Visage Ease VP spatial computing app, RSNA attendees got a close look at everything Visage Imaging has to offer in cloud-based PACS.
- Say Goodbye to On-Premises Costs: Free up resources with Optum’s cloud solutions for medical imaging that will help you say goodbye to on-premises costs. Visit this page to see how they can help you save!
- Simplifying Complex Image Exchange Workflows: Guadalupe Regional Medical Center and Methodist Hospital implemented a PocketHealth Community Gateway that saved over 1,700 staff hours. Read how they streamlined bidirectional image exchange, created operational efficiencies, and improved continuity of care for patients.
- AI Enables Automated Cobb Angle Measurements: Gleamer’s BoneMetrics AI solution accurately predicted the Cobb angle of scoliosis patients with high accuracy compared to manual measurements made by clinicians. Learn more in this paper.
- Gain Clarity at Speed in MRI: Acquire images faster per MRI machine per day with STAGE from SpinTech MRI. STAGE reduces the time for MRI brain protocols by 30% for your most common exams.
- A Step-by-Step Guide to InteleShare Viewer: How can Intelerad’s InteleShare Viewer help you handle the demands of enterprise healthcare with a diagnostic-quality viewer? Learn about some of the tools available to you in this self-guided demo.
- Feel the Freedom of Helium-Free MRI: Lift limitations and experience MRI excellence with Philips BlueSeal, the industry’s lightest, vent pipe-free, high-performance, helium-free 1.5T scanner. Save on helium and energy costs, achieve precise AI-enhanced diagnoses, enjoy faster scans, and optimized workflows. Learn more today.
- Integrating AI into Clinical Practice: AI has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, but it requires a collaborative effort between clinicians and AI experts. In this micro-learning course from Calantic by Bayer, learn about the latest developments in healthcare AI.
- The Clinical Value of Soft-Tissue Chest X-Ray: Soft-tissue techniques can improve the visibility and accuracy of chest X-ray. Learn about two important soft-tissue methods – bone suppression and dual-energy subtraction – in this white paper from Riverain Technologies.
- AI and Cancer Screening: Cancer screening saves lives, but right now screening is limited to a few cancer types. That could change with AI, which opens new possibilities for earlier disease detection. Learn more in this article by DeepHealth clinical AI leader Greg Sorensen, MD.
- Transform Your Practice into a Multispecialty Powerhouse: Medality is the practice development platform that helps radiologists upskill in high-growth, advanced imaging areas. Request a demo today and discover how to transform your practice into a multispecialty powerhouse.
- Echo AI for Cardiac Amyloidosis: Echo can be used to diagnose patients with cardiac amyloidosis and differentiate them from those with left ventricular hypertrophy. Learn how Us2.ai’s novel solutions improve diagnosis of this underdiagnosed condition.
- Secure and Scalable Radiology AI Adoption: CARPL’s Unboxing AI webinar series takes a deep dive into radiology AI adoption with a four-part series hosted by CEO Vidur Mahajan. Learn how a platform approach can help you realize the full potential of an integrated AI ecosystem.
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