|
Interventional Work Changes, Heat Wave Melts MRI, and Aidoc Breakthrough
June 29, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
Together with
|
|
|
|
“The more doctors dunked on Midjourney’s full body scan, the more I wanted to get one.”
|
|
Patient in a cartoon by Joshua Liu, MD, on the launch of Midjourney Medical earlier this month.
|
|
|
Summer’s definitely here, as evidenced by the deadly heat wave that’s been gripping western Europe. In fact, the high temperatures forced at least one U.K. hospital to shut down its MRI service due to overheating scanners. The news shows that recent attention on reducing radiology’s carbon emissions isn’t just an academic exercise. – Brian Casey, Managing Editor
|
|
|
|
Interventional radiology has proven benefits for patient care, enabling life-saving procedures to be performed less invasively than open surgery. But interventional radiology procedures are being concentrated among fewer radiologists, based on findings from a new study in JVIR by researchers from the ACR’s Neiman HPI group.
From its origins in pioneering work conducted in the 1960s by Charles Dotter, MD, in image-guided minimally invasive procedures, interventional radiology has evolved into a field with one foot in diagnostic radiology and another in therapy.
- The field achieved a major milestone in 2012, when it was recognized as an independent, primary medical specialty, and shortly thereafter an integrated IR/DR pathway was adopted that gives trainees additional dedicated interventional training.
- This replaced the previous practice of just tacking an extra interventional fellowship on to a diagnostic radiology program.
Has the new training structure changed who’s performing interventional procedures in the U.S.? Neiman HPI researchers examined this issue by analyzing Medicare claims from 2008 to 2023 for 46k radiologists.
- They focused on the volume of interventional procedures being performed by radiologists, and any shifts in volume that could have resulted from changes in the training program.
Over the study period, researchers found…
- The percentage of all radiologists who performed at least some interventional work fell (from 67% to 50%).
- But the percentage of super-specialists – those who spent more than 90% of their time doing interventional work – more than doubled (from 4.1% to 8.8%).
- Among radiologists who primarily performed interventional work, more were younger compared to older (25% vs. 12%).
- And super-specialists tended to be younger as well (9.2% vs. 6.8%).
The changes are most likely due to the new IR/DR training pathway. But they also raise new questions, such as whether interventional radiology should completely separate from diagnostic radiology in both training and practice settings.
- The authors weren’t ready to go that far, noting that the integrated IR/DR pathway was designed to ensure dual competency in both image interpretation and procedures, and such flexibility is still valuable in today’s healthcare environment.
The Takeaway
The new findings on the concentration of interventional radiology practice generally reflect the trend toward increased specialization that’s being seen in both radiology and healthcare. Patients are benefiting, as their procedures are more likely to be performed by specialists who not only received more training but also have more experience than in the past.
|
|
Preventing Burnout in Mid-Career Radiologists
Navigating the mid-career stage in radiology presents unique challenges and growth opportunities for radiologists reaching the 10- to 20-year mark. Check out these tips from Medality for thriving in the middle years of your professional journey.
|
|
Adding AI Automation to Radiology Reporting
Reporting Pro from DeepHealth is a next-generation AI-powered solution designed to transform the way radiologists generate clinical reports and findings. Discover how it can transform your practice.
|
|
Next-Generation DICOM SR Workflow Engine Messaging
The accelerating adoption of AI-powered radiology reporting has propelled replacement of legacy speech recognition integration technology. Discover how Altamont Software’s Passport SR can help you manage the shift with a modern DICOM SR engine.
|
|
- U.K. Heat Wave Breaks MRI Scanners: A U.K. hospital last week had to cancel 254 patient appointments for MRI scans after the country’s punishing heat wave overwhelmed the scanners’ cooling systems. Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Trust in the country’s East of England region declared a “critical incident” and warned that the problem might not be resolved in the short term. Temperatures in the region hit 33°C (91°F).
- Aidoc’s Reporting Breakthrough: Aidoc received “breakthrough device” designation from the FDA for First Read, a new AI solution to analyze chest X-rays and produce draft reports for radiologist review. First Read was built on the same technology that underpins Aidoc’s Triage abdominal CT application, and is designed to help radiologists deal with the growing volume of imaging studies. This is the second breakthrough designation for Aidoc, following the company’s CARE Triage solution, which was cleared in January. The FDA is reviewing First Read under its de novo pathway.
- FDA Clears First Medical LLM Software: It’s not a radiology product, but the news of its clearance could have a major effect on medical imaging AI. Clinical AI developer UpDoc announced that the FDA has cleared their clinical agentic AI platform that’s based on patient-facing large language models – the first clearance of a medical LLM solution. The FDA has long debated how to regulate medical generative AI, but the UpDoc authorization could indicate they are more comfortable with the technology and are ready to clear additional algorithms.
- The Perks of At-Home X-Ray: Enabled by advances in digital radiography, at-home X-ray looks increasingly useful for homebound patients living with frailty, multimorbidity, or cognitive impairment. A review article in Radiography examined 33 international studies on X-ray in the home, finding patients generally prefer to avoid the stress of travel. The paper also noted that at-home X-ray eliminates ambulance and admission costs, even if the overall finances remain understudied. Clinical staff often report enjoying the work to boot.
- CAC Case Leads to $6M Settlement: The importance of adequately tracking coronary artery calcium findings is illustrated by a medical malpractice case that just concluded against a Georgia cardiology practice. Cardiovascular Group was accused of not properly responding to a coronary CT calcium scan showing “dangerous plaque buildup” in a 64-year-old man, who, six months later, suffered a heart attack and died after colon surgery. The group settled the case for $6M under a policy-limit settlement following an $18.3M jury verdict.
- Micro-X Advances Head CT Research: Australian medical device developer Micro-X is hitting milestones in its quest to develop a dedicated head CT scanner based on carbon nanotube cone-beam CT technology. The company started a multicenter pilot study in which the first human images were acquired with the CNT CBCT system. The trial is comparing Micro-X’s technology to conventional CT to evaluate image quality in patients with different brain pathologies, in particular to identify contraindications to stroke thrombolysis.
- Voyageur Contracts with Fluor: Canadian contrast developer Voyageur Pharmaceuticals signed a contract with Fluor covering Voyageur’s effort to build new contrast agent production pipelines. The companies will work together on a feasibility study for an iodine extraction and production facility in Oklahoma to produce raw materials for iodine-based agents. The firms plan to conduct a similar study for an integrated barium and iodine production pipeline. Voyageur inked a supply alliance with Bayer earlier this year.
- BrightHeart’s Bright Future: Having received the CE mark, BrightHeart is set to make the EU debut of their AI-driven fetal ultrasound solution at FMF 2026 conference this week. A 2025 Obstetrics & Gynecology study showed the software’s capability to identify severe defects with 99% sensitivity, an important metric as up to 50% of congenital abnormalities currently go undetected. This expansion follows progress in the U.S., with the company having received five FDA clearances and an installation at Mount Sinai Health System.
- Raidium Launches Foundation Model: French AI startup Raidium last week launched Jolia, a new family of vision-language models for analyzing CT scans and producing draft reports. The company believes Jolia outperforms public baselines for classifying findings on chest and abdominal CT scans. Jolia joins two other foundation models in Raidium’s product lineup: RadSam, the company’s original segmentation model, and Curia, a vision-only model launched in 2025.
- Mammography Rate Drops in Spain: The decline in mammography screening rates during the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t just a U.S. phenomenon. A new report from Spain’s Ministry of Health indicates that the country’s mammography screening rate dropped 14 percentage points from 2017 to 2023 (from 82% to 68%), mostly due to longer intervals between screening exams. The report also found socio-economic screening disparities, with the screening rate lower in the most disadvantaged groups (60-62% vs. 75-77%).
- Sectra Scores 10-Year German Contract: The hits keep coming for Sectra, which last week reported signing a 10-year contract to install its Sectra One cloud-based enterprise image management software at MVZ MedDiagnost, an imaging provider serving the Aachen region of Germany. Sectra has been working with the provider for the past 20 years, and the new contract expands the relationship from one site to 10 and consolidates three separate systems onto one platform. MVZ MedDiagnost is a member of the LifeLink Group, which has 50 locations across Germany.
|
|
Making AI Work for Radiology
Watch this webinar from Philips to learn practical strategies, real‑world results, and what it takes to successfully scale AI for radiology at your hospital or health system.
|
|
Don’t Leave Your Patients in the Dark
Top health systems like Duke Health and Lumexa Imaging are using patient-friendly radiology reports from Scanslated to boost patient engagement and satisfaction. Discover how Scanslated can work for you today.
|
|
Remote Reading Is Essential for Enterprise Imaging
Remote reading has become essential to enterprise imaging operations because healthcare organizations need scalable, flexible solutions. Discover how cloud-based solutions from Intelerad can help solve remote reading challenges.
|
|
- Rapid AI Deployment in Emergency Care: University Hospitals used CARPL to deploy AZmed’s fracture detection tool directly in the emergency department, reducing interpretation time by 30% without disrupting workflows. Learn how UH accelerated AI deployment.
- AI-Powered Referral Automation: Radiology teams are drowning in referrals, and a huge chunk of that burden is purely administrative. Kailo Medical built a solution to fix that: An AI-powered referral automation workflow that handles the full intake process. Find out how it works today.
- Bringing Real-Time AI Echo to Clinicians: Us2.ai and deepc are bringing real-time standardized AI echo analysis and reporting to clinicians through their new partnership. Find out how Us2.ai’s software is now available within the deepcOS platform.
- Digital Radiography Designed for Freedom: United Imaging’s new uDR Aurora CX digital radiography system was designed to give you unprecedented freedom in imaging patients thanks to its new advances in computer vision, automation, and AI diagnostics.
- 8 Ways Merge Meets Enterprise Imaging Requirements: Merge enterprise imaging solutions deliver measurable value through continued innovation, thoughtful design, and flexible deployment. Learn how they can benefit your organization today.
- Driving Advances in Lung Health Through Early Detection: Earlier detection of chest conditions leads to more effective treatments and patient outcomes. Learn more about lung diseases, the impact of early detection, and tools from Riverain Technologies to improve detection accuracy and efficiency.
- Interpretation Efficiency in Radiology – A Critical Strategy: Healthcare institutions are at a critical stage, where an emphasis on interpretation efficiency needs to be a priority. Check out this white paper from Visage Imaging and Signify Research on strategies to optimize your interpretation efficiency.
- Elevating Breast Cancer Detection: Breast Suite from DeepHealth is a new package of AI-powered solutions delivering increased breast cancer detection rates, risk stratification tools, and viewing and reporting workflow acceleration. Find out how it can benefit your practice today.
- Transform Imaging Data into Actionable Predictions: When you choose Quibim, you get more than a partner for detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer on MRI scans. Learn how they can help you transform imaging data into actionable predictions by booking a demo today.
- Leveraging AI-Powered Discovery for Image Exchange: Southwest Medical Imaging, a premier physician-owned radiology practice in the southwestern U.S., partnered with Medicom to streamline their workflow. Discover how they utilize Medicom’s AI-powered Smart Search, which leverages an LLM to automatically detect and surface imaging data, to eliminate manual searching and accelerate patient care.
- Therapy + Diagnostics = Renewed Hope: Theranostics is experiencing an exponential and global expansion as radioligand therapies give hope when other strategies have failed. Learn more about theranostics on this page from GE HealthCare.
- Radiology Case Report: A man in his 50s presented with syncope with minor head trauma and unassociated risk factors. Find out how MRI helped provide a diagnosis in this case study.
- A Best in KLAS Hat Trick: AGFA HealthCare was named Best in KLAS in three enterprise imaging segments this year: PACS under 300k studies, universal viewer, and vendor-neutral archive. Find out what makes customers keep coming back on this page.
- How AI Is Redefining Data Migration: Enlitic’s Migratek data migration services – combined with AI-enabled ENDEX data standardization – is changing the game for data migration projects. Discover how it can benefit you in this article.
- AI-Assisted Radiology Reporting: Move beyond legacy radiology reporting with AI-assisted reporting from Mosaic Technologies. See how Mosaic Reporting can help your organization move faster today while building for tomorrow.
- The Path to Digital Pathology: Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City had a vision: digital pathology coupled with fully integrated radiology, all in one enterprise imaging system. Learn how they turned this vision into reality on this page from Sectra.
- Built for Today’s Demanding ORs: The Persona C HR mobile C-arm from Fujifilm Healthcare Americas combines high-power performance, ultra-low-dose imaging, and surgeon-friendly control – all in a lightweight, spacious design. Discover its advantages today.
- Experience Dynamic Simplicity in Fluoroscopy: Still on the fence about upgrading to the latest technology that fluoroscopy has to offer? Hear from your peers about their experiences with the first-ever installed LUMINOS Q.namix R system from Siemens Healthineers.
- Imaging Data Should Flow Freely: Break down proprietary silos and connect imaging across your enterprise with a modern, interoperable approach from Mach7 Technologies. Explore their eUnity solution today.
- Reporting Should Protect Focus: Radiologists shouldn’t have to think about their reporting software while interpreting exams. Modern reporting should reduce friction, preserve flow and support efficiency across the reading room. See how Rad AI Reporting modernizes workflow. Book a demo.
|
|
|
|
|
