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AI Bone Density Screening, Heartflow’s Value, and Low-Value Imaging
August 7, 2025
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Together with
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“AI will never replace the people delivering care. But it must replace the systems holding them back.”
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Aidoc CEO Elad Walach.
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Intelerad has launched a new client obsession initiative to improve the client experience with the company. We caught up with Chief Client Officer Eric Grunden to discuss the project in this episode of The Imaging Wire Show.
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Screening women for osteoporosis using AI analysis of chest X-rays acquired for other clinical indications meets U.S. thresholds for cost-effectiveness. That’s according to a new study in JACR that highlights the potential of radiography AI for opportunistic screening.
Osteoporosis screening is already performed using DEXA scanners that detect bone density loss in women.
- But DEXA scanners aren’t always available, and dedicated screening for just one condition can be expensive.
Using AI to analyze chest X-rays that women might be getting for other conditions could expand the pool of women being screened for osteoporosis without incurring significant additional costs.
- Indeed, Japanese researchers recently published a study honing in on the best techniques for AI-enhanced osteoporosis screening with radiography.
In the new study, researchers performed a modeling analysis that simulated the cost-effectiveness of an osteoporosis screening program based on AI-enhanced chest radiographs for U.S. women aged 50 and up.
- The cost analysis compared osteoporosis screening plus treatment versus treatment alone, incorporating standard fracture treatment and imaging costs ($66 for DEXA scans, $20 for chest X-rays).
In a sample of 1k women, AI-enhanced X-ray osteoporosis screening…
- Had an ICER of $72.1k per QALY, below the U.S. cost-effectiveness thresholds of $100k to $150k per QALY.
- Would produce healthcare savings of $99k, offset by treatment costs of $208k.
- Would prevent 2.8 fractures and increase QALYs by 1.5.
- Would remain cost-effective as long as AI’s cost did not exceed $62 per patient.
Adjusting the model’s parameters produced even better performance for AI-based screening.
- If medication adherence improved by 50%, the ICER was reduced to $28.6k.
The Takeaway
The new research offers more support for opportunistic osteoporosis screening, this time perhaps from the most important angle of all: cost-effectiveness. If confirmed with other studies, AI-based bone density analysis could make routine chest X-rays even more valuable.
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Heart Failure Diagnosis with AI Handheld Echo
A new study showcases the power of AI to transform heart failure diagnosis. Discover how AI from Us2.ai accurately detected left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF ≤ 40%) on handheld echo with high diagnostic accuracy, closely matching expert human analysis.
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AI-Powered Population Health
DeepHealth closed its acquisition of iCAD, a major step in DeepHealth’s vision to build the future of AI-powered population health. In this Imaging Wire Show, we talked to company executives Kees Wesdorp and Niccolo Stefani about the acquisition and their strategic roadmap.
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- AI Detects Missed Interval Breast Cancers: iCAD’s ProFound AI algorithm detected interval breast cancers missed by radiologists on screening mammograms. In a paper in European Radiology, Swiss researchers used ProFound to retrospectively review 119 cases of interval breast cancer, finding that AI gave high risk scores to 51% of cases where radiologists also observed abnormalities on retrospective review. What’s more, ProFound gave high risk scores to 13% of cases where radiologists retrospectively saw no abnormalities – highlighting AI’s value as a complementary modality.
- Density Criteria Overlook Black Women: Many states have passed laws requiring insurance reimbursement for women needing supplemental breast imaging, but legislation is often based on density or risk criteria – and thus could overlook Black women. In a paper in JAMA Network Open, researchers looked at 68.5k women getting screening mammography in Pennsylvania, finding that Black women were less likely than White women to meet eligibility criteria for supplemental screening (1.6% vs. 8.4%). Many Black women may get false-negative mammograms as a result.
- FDA Clears United MRI Solutions: The FDA cleared MRI technologies from United Imaging in time for the company to feature them at this week’s AHRA 2025 conference. Leading the clearances was uMR Ultra, a 3T scanner that includes United’s uAIFI.LIVE dynamic imaging technology for motion visualization. Another recently cleared MRI technology is uOmniscan, United’s multimodality remote scanning solution. Separately, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that United Imaging Healthcare’s photon-counting CT scanner has gone into clinical testing at two hospitals in Shanghai.
- Open-Source AI Predicts Lung Cancer Risk: The Sybil open-source AI algorithm predicted lung cancer in high-risk people in a new study in Radiology. South Korean researchers applied Sybil retrospectively to 18.1k individuals who had baseline low-dose CT scans and at least one follow-up exam, finding that among high-risk people it had high performance for one- and six-year risk (AUC = 0.94 and 0.74 respectively) but performed worse for lower-risk people ineligible for screening (AUC = 0.89 and 0.56).
- Heartflow Valued at $1.3B in SEC Filing: Cardiac AI developer Heartflow will have a market capitalization of $1.3B based on its upcoming IPO, first disclosed last month. In SEC filings, Heartflow said it intended to offer 12.5M shares of common stock at a price between $15-$17 per share, giving the offer an upper value of $212.5M (up from $100M originally estimated). While the company’s 2024 revenues grew 44%, it continues to burn cash, posting net losses for both 2023 and 2024 ($96M and $97M, respectively).
- RamSoft Adds Billing Features: RamSoft is adding billing features to its cloud-based RIS/PACS software in Canada through a new relationship with ClinicAid. Canadian imaging centers will be able to use ClinicAid’s billing application directly within their workflow, which is expected to streamline processes, reduce errors, and enable real-time exchange of billing and coding data.
- New Lantern Launches New Viewers: AI developer New Lantern launched two new specialized viewer modes for its Curie platform, which improves radiologist workflow by automating laterality and quadrant information. The new modes include a mammography viewer that supports 2D and 3D mammography, while a PET/CT viewer supports fused image review and oncology workflows. The viewers extend New Lantern’s offerings to cover the full spectrum of imaging modalities.
- PE Firm Builds Mobile Imaging Network: A new PE-backed firm has begun acquiring mobile imaging companies to build a network across the western U.S. HCAP Partners and its Integrated Diagnostic Services company acquired mobile imaging provider Community of Nevada Diagnostics, which provides mobile X-ray, EKG, ultrasound, and echo services to nursing homes and long-term care facilities in Las Vegas and Reno. It’s the second acquisition for IDS, which HCAP formed earlier this year to provide imaging services outside hospital and clinic settings.
- Patent Duel at Radiation Protection Firms: Two companies that make radiation protection gear are dueling over patent claims for their technologies. Egg Medical and Rampart IC are disputing patents for radiation shielding technology for interventional procedures. Egg makes the EggNest radiation protection system for shielding cath lab personnel from scatter radiation, which competitor Rampart claims violated its patents. But the USPTO in July rejected the claims, ruling there were multiple prior inventions using the technology Rampart claimed to have invented. Rampart can still contest the ruling.
- Cortechs Updates NeuroQuant Software: Cortechs.ai launched the latest release of its NeuroQuant Brain Tumor software, with the new version offering automated segmentation and volumetric reporting of brain metastases and meningiomas on MRI scans. The application is designed to be integrated into radiation oncology and neurosurgical workflows and is available on the company’s cloud-based environment.
- Imaging Tops List of Low-Value Services: Medical imaging exams occupied four of the top five spots on a list of low-value medical services in an article in JAMA Health Forum. Researchers investigated ways to save Medicare money by eliminating low-value services, analyzing 5% of claims by 67.5M Medicare beneficiaries from 2018-2020. Top low-value imaging services included imaging for plantar fasciitis, head imaging for headache and syncope, and low back pain imaging. But eliminating imaging tests did not save as much money as other non-imaging services like COPD screening.
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Advanced AI for Prostate MRI
QP-Prostate from Quibim is your advanced solution for detection and diagnosis of prostate cancer from MRI scans. Discover how it streamlines your workflow by detecting suspicious lesions, segmenting the prostate, and ensuring compliance with PI-RADS V2.1 guidelines.
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Validating AI at Scale
Radiology Partners leveraged CARPL to benchmark four MSK AI models, reducing ground truthing workload and enabling same-day validation. Learn how RadPartners benchmarked AI.
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A New Benchmark for Tomo Imaging
There’s a new benchmark for digital breast tomosynthesis 3D images with MAMMOMAT B.brilliant from Siemens Healthineers. The system’s 50° wide-angle tomosynthesis helps you achieve excellent outcomes for your patients, radiologists, and breast care professionals.
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- Optimize Radiology Workflows: Harness cloud and AI technology to help your radiology teams unlock insights, increase efficiencies, and improve patient care. Learn more about an integrated approach to AI in radiology in this e-book from Microsoft.
- The Power of Enterprise Imaging: Enterprise imaging is connecting care across large health systems. In this article from Intelerad, learn how it creates a connected ecosystem providing a comprehensive view of a patient’s history for informed clinical decision-making.
- Can Whole-Body MRI Revolutionize Medical Imaging? In this episode of The Radiology Report, Medality CEO Daniel Arnold sits down with Daniel Durand, MD, of Prenuvo to explore how whole-body MRI is reshaping the future of preventive care.
- 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.
- Radiology Academy – Medical Education on Demand: Visit Calantic Radiology Academy by Bayer, where you’ll find the latest keynotes and symposium sessions on the use of artificial intelligence in radiology, ranging from challenges facing AI to bias in machine learning.
- CT Tubes for Life: Never buy another X-ray tube for the life of your CT scanner with the Philips CT 5300. Powered by the advanced vMRC tube, software-driven innovation, and the industry’s first detector designed for AI. Built for lasting performance and peace of mind. Terms and conditions apply.
- Unprecedented Insights Made Possible with AI: With the largest normative dataset of whole-body imaging in the world, Prenuvo’s AI researchers partner with the best academic minds to understand – like never before – what “normal” aging means. Learn about their work today.
- Purchasing a Cloud-Hosted Enterprise Imaging Solution: The decision to move your enterprise imaging to the cloud is significant. But how do you choose the right solution? Discover the 10 critical questions to ask in this guide from AGFA HealthCare.
- Elevating Generative Reporting to the Web: Learn about the next leap in patient-focused diagnostic imaging with KailoFlow, the web-based evolution of Kailo Medical’s generative structured reporting platform that combines progress, innovation, and accessibility.
- Equitable Study Distribution with an Automated Worklist: Automated worklist functionality can distribute medical imaging studies more equitably than manual study selection. Discover how Merge Workflow Orchestrator enabled one institution to achieve balance in this downloadable white paper.
- MRI Access and the Cost of Inpatient Stays: Longer inpatient stays due to delayed MRI access are a long-standing and costly issue for hospital systems. Find out how STAGE from SpinTech MRI can reduce your MRI backlog and inpatient stays by shortening brain scan times by 30%.
- The Benefits of Operational AI: Explore the transformative potential of operational AI in healthcare in this on-demand webinar hosted by Blackford. Learn from the company’s partners how AI can help your practice operate more efficiently.
- Unifying All Your Diagnostic Images: The Mach7 eUnity enterprise diagnostic viewer can unify all your images and solve your integration needs under one universal viewing platform. Find out how you can upgrade your enterprise visualization strategy today.
- Opportunistic Detection of CAC and Pulmonary Nodules: Achieve a newfound certainty of search for thoracic CT when using ClearRead CT from Riverain Technologies. It’s a natural addition for opportunistic CAC scoring and nodule detection, or as part of a CT lung cancer screening program.
- Planning for Data Migration Success: When UCSF Health’s enterprise imaging team needed to bring two new hospitals into their network, a new data migration project was born. Attend this August 13 webinar to learn how UCSF ensured a successful migration by working with Laitek, an Enlitic company.
- AI Acceleration without the Hype: The Visage AI Accelerator program is an innovation magnet – an end-to-end AI solution that bridges research and diagnostic imaging on the same, unified platform. Learn how Visage 7 provides synergistic, smart workflows and flawless third-party AI integration.
- Top-Tier Care at Rural Hospitals: Holzer Health System in Jackson, OH, treats local patients like family. In this video, learn how United Imaging equipped Holzer Health with its uMR 570 MRI scanner, helping them to offer top-tier care.
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